How to Train Your Dragon 2
by GuardianDragon98
Summary: After returning from a 5 year journey of medical training, Zenna's ready to settle into her life as the Dragon Doctor of Berk and as a big sister. But when a madman known as Drago Bludvist threatens Berk and its dragons, she and Stryka will have to take to the skies with Hiccup and Toothless once again on an all new adventure that'll put their bond with their dragons to the test.
1. Good to Be Home

**I'm alive! I'm so sorry for not posting anything lately. School's been really crazy and I just finished my last college entrance exam. Again, my deepest and most sincere apologies.**

**My Riders and Defenders of Berk story will be updated next weekend, I promise.**

**Now, I've been receiving tons of messages asking for when I will post HTTYD2 with Zenna.**

**Well, wait no more my fellow HTTYD fans! For it has finally arrived!**

**This here, is the first chapter of HTTYD2 with Zenna and Stryka!**

**The storyline might get a little confusing so feel free to send me any questions. Now on with the story!**

**DISCLAIMER NOTE: I do NOT own HTTYD or HTTYD2. All rights to both films go to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks Animation.**

**How to Train Your Dragon 2**

**Chapter 1: Good to Be Home**

The wind blew at just the right speed as Trader Johann's ship passed between the old Viking guardian statues that guarded Berk. Stryka and I stood at the helm, unable to contain our excitement. Stryka was practically wiggling about like an excited little caterpillar and bouncing around, making the boat rock a little.

"Settle down, Stryka! Remember, we have to go below deck in just a couple of minutes." I laughed as I fiddled with my lucky silver pendant. Trader Johann smiled at me and asked, "Anxious to see your family, Lady Zenna?" I smiled back at him. "_Overly excited and fit to burst from excitement_ is more like it, Johann." I replied as Stryka and I headed below deck just as Johann's ship docked at Berk.

Good thing nobody saw us yet. Wouldn't want to spoil our big surprise now, would we?

Oh, where are my manners? I'm _Zenna Fiersome_, by the way.

In case you don't know me, I'm the other half of Berk's Two Original Dragon Trainers, the other half being my best human friend and surrogate brother, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. He also happens to be the partner of Toothless, his male Night Fury and Stryka's mate, as well as the only son of Chief Stoick the Vast.

Another thing you should know about both me and Stryka is that both of us have only one eye. We lost our right eyes in the battle with the Red Death five years ago. Back then, the dragons and Vikings of Berk were sworn enemies. But when Hiccup and I met our two Night Furies, it wasn't long before the 300-year old feud ended through our efforts. Now, Berk has integrated dragons into society and we've been at peace ever since.

As for why Stryka and I are so anxious, here's the reason: We've been away from Berk for **five whole, freaking years**.

I know crazy, right? Well, you see, I'd been accepted to study medicine under the great Hippocrates not long after the war ended. While I had been trained under Gothi, the village elder, in the basics and already learned the healing arts from my past experiences as an apprentice healer in my old home in the South, I figured that more advanced medical knowledge could help save more lives. Also, since Berk has dragons living in it, it makes sense to know more about medicine if you wanna treat more injuries that had been caused by flying accidents or accidental dragon attacks.

So Stryka and I left Berk, I went to Greece to study and, as part of my learning experience, travelled around the world with Stryka to learn different healing techniques from other lands.

Together, Stryka and I have seen a lot, done a lot, learnt a lot and met so many amazing new people and have been to so many new places. I had to admit that the five years of freedom and adventure were good for us both.

But honestly, there's no place like home.

I could now hear Johann talking as Stryka and I waited below deck. My heart was racing in my chest as I tried to imagine how Berk has changed and how everyone will react to my and Stryka's return. I couldn't wait to see my parents, Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stormfly, Snotlout, Hookfang, Fishlegs, Meatlug, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Barf and Belch, Stoick, Gobber, Gothi and everyone else again. And judging by Stryka's big, gummy smile, I could tell that she was just as excited as I was.

"In fact, I have a surprise _for all of you!_" Johann's voice sounded from above just as I got on Stryka's back.

"Showtime, Stryka. Time for our big comeback!" I whispered to Stryka, who crooned as the hatch opened. We shot out of there like a firework and up into the air. Stryka spiraled up into the sky with me on her back, corkscrewed a few times and then, did a mid-air somersault before we landed. I could see everyone staring at me and Stryka with a mixture of surprise and amazement.

"Okay, so Stryka and I've been away for five years. What've we missed?" I asked, grinning. No sooner had I gotten off of Stryka, I was immediately greeted with cheers.

My parents, Edgar and Henna Fiersome, were the first to greet me along with their Hideous Zippleback, Serpent and Serpentine. "My precious little gemstone! My darling Zenna, it is so good to see you again!" my father shouted joyfully as he swung me around. "Zenna…Sweet Freya, love! You've grown up, sweetheart…" my mother said, beaming with pride. I laughed and embraced them both, Serpent and Serpentine intertwining their heads around us. "Stryka and I've really missed you guys. It's so good to be home…" I said with a big smile on my face.

Suddenly I felt the baby in Mom's tummy kick. "Someone else is also glad to have you back home, love." Mom chuckled, rubbing her swollen belly. Dad looked at me with pride. "If your brother were here, he'd be so happy." He murmured. "Yeah…" I said quietly. My older brother, Elias, had died seven years ago in a dragon attack. It was he who had the beginning premonition of dragons and Vikings co-existing together peacefully. And if it weren't for him and his premonition, Hiccup and I wouldn't have tried to change our world for the better. Elias was and always will be the greatest older brother to me, even if he's already in Valhalla.

And now, he will be an older brother to both me and our unborn sibling.

About seven months before Stryka and I returned home, I had received a letter from Hiccup. In it, he told me of all the new adventures he and Toothless had had, new inventions he had made for the village, his proposal to me and Stryka to join him and Toothless on their explorations…and the news of my mother's pregnancy.

Let me tell you, dear reader, that I was practically running around the streets of Greece while shouting, "_I'm gonna be a big sister!_" at the top of my lungs after I read that letter. And even if we were far away from home and our family, Stryka and I celebrated and praised our Norse gods.

Now I was home, and I couldn't wait to meet my little brother or little sister.

Kneeling in front of Mom, I pressed my cheek to her belly where I could hear the baby's heartbeat and feel it kicking like there was no tomorrow. "I'm home, little one…And I can't wait to meet you soon." I whispered lovingly. Stryka warbled softly and gently nuzzled Mom's tummy, making us all chuckle at her motherly antics.

Standing up, I looked at all the happy faces surrounding me as I was welcomed back home. I smiled and bowed gratefully to Gothi, who smiled and bowed back. I waved to Spitelout and Phlegma, who cheerfully waved back. Gustav ran up to me and gave me a hug, which I happily returned. "You've gotten big. Are you still training with Fanghook? Did the others find out that you still kept him?" I asked him coyly. Gustav shrugged. "They were gonna find out sooner or later. But once they saw how much better Fanghook and I worked together, they let me keep him. Hiccup even promoted me to _Apprentice Dragon Trainer_. If I keep up the good work, I can be an official member of the Academy!" he told me excitedly.

Then, a large burly Viking dressed in the trappings of a Chief approached me accompanied by a two-limbed Viking with a dirty blond mustache. I smiled and stood respectfully straight. The two-limbed Viking is Gobber, Berk's blacksmith and Dragon Dentist while the larger Viking was Hiccup's father and Chief of Berk, Stoick the Vast.

"It's good to have you back, Zenna." Stoick smiled warmly at me. "It's definitely good to _be _back, Chief." I smiled. "Well, well, well! The Fiersome has become quite a jewel. You're all grown up, Zen!" Gobber whistled, winking at me. "Thank you, Gobber. You haven't changed much." I laughed in jest.

As I looked around, I could see that some of the men were giving me looks. I rolled my eye at them, indirectly telling them that I wasn't interested. I guess I _had _grown quite a bit over the last five years. My long black hair, which I usually tied up into a messy ponytail, was now let down and my previously choppy bangs had been cut and trimmed to become neat and wavy, giving me a more feminine look. I was taller now, and had blossomed I supposed into a woman. For today, I made sure to wear the white coat Hiccup had made for me before I left for my travels as well as the leather eye patch he made for me during Snoggletog five years ago.

That's when I noticed that six people were missing from the welcoming party. Namely: Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Their dragons weren't around either and Stryka was standing on her hind legs to try to spot her beloved mate.

"You're looking for Hiccup, aren't you?" Stoick chuckled when he saw me craning my neck to look at the crowd. "Yeah, I was actually hoping he'd be the first to greet me with everyone else." I remarked, slightly disappointed. "Ah, the lad's gone off with the others to test out his new flight suit. They'll be back shortly." Gobber told me.

"Flight suit…?" I blinked at Gobber, confused. Suddenly I heard Fishlegs shouting, "Make a hole! Clear a path! He's headed this way!" in a panicked tone that made me look up. I could see Fishlegs and Meatlug, Astrid and Stormfly, Snotlout and Hookfang as well as the Twins and Barf and Belch flying in. Then I heard the familiar shriek of a Night Fury and Toothless came in for a landing. What perplexed me was that Hiccup wasn't on his back. I was so busy pondering as to why, that I didn't even notice the crowd parting. That's when I heard a very familiar voice scream, "Look out!"

I looked up and saw this masked _flying _Viking headed straight for me! I only had a second to mutter, "Holy Shields…" before _wham! _The masked flier flew straight into me, the impact sending us both sprawling into the dirt.

"Owww…" I groaned as we both struggled to untangle ourselves from each other. "Well, he's here now. You two alright?" Stoick remarked. "We're okay, Dad! Just a minor malfunction with the suit. No injuries!" the masked flier grunted as he helped me to my feet. I noticed the metal leg where his left foot should have been…along with the leather riding helmet I had made.

I smiled as I dusted myself off. Facing the masked man, I grinned. "No injuries, huh? If there were any, you'd say that it was an occupational hazard. And I see that the helmet finally fits you, Hicc." I commented. Even if his face was covered by the visor, I could see Hiccup's emerald green eyes widen. By now, the others had already landed along with their dragons. Stryka immediately bounded over to Toothless, who roared with joy and nuzzled and licked her. My friends' dragons were also crooning and warbling happily, welcoming Stryka back.

"So…how have you guys been?" I asked casually to my friends, who were all staring at me with wide eyes and amazed expressions.

'_Red shirt…that suits Astrid. Ha! Snotlout's the short stack of the gang. Fishlegs just keeps getting bigger…and is that a beard I see? Ruffnut looks pretty much the same. Wow, Tuffnut with spiked arms bracers. That's kind of cool._' I thought, taking a quick and good look at how much my friends had grown.

Then Hiccup took off his helmet.

My eye widened in awe.

Hiccup's hair had gotten shaggier and now had two small braids at the back near his ear (_No doubt Astrid was the one who did those_). He had filled out pretty well too. He was easily the tallest among the seven of us…even I came up about an inch shorter than him! And he was decked out in this complicated-looking but, nonetheless, still pretty awesome suit made from black and brown leather. His upper torso had this black leather armor that made me think of dragon skin with a shoulder pad emblazoned with a red skull emblem and a small button-like pin that had the same symbol I had embossed on his helmet stamped in red. His prosthetic leg looked new and improved, obviously from his own tinkering. And his face? Let's just say that if I had romantic feelings for him (_which I clearly do not have for some very important reasons_), I'd be drooling right now.

'_My best human friend has gone from adorable and awkward fishbone to lean, mean and goddamn hot Viking heartthrob!_' I thought, feeling both surprised and proud at the same time.

For a minute, Hiccup and I just stared at each other. Finally I spoke up. "What happened to all of…_this?_" I asked jokingly, gesturing to him from head-to-toe. Hiccup then smiled that familiar crooked grin of his that I missed so much. "You just gestured to all of me!" he laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?" I laughed as well before we embraced each other tightly. "I missed you…" Hiccup whispered to me. "I missed you too…" I whispered back. Letting go, Hiccup and I smiled. "Okay?" Hiccup extended his hand out to me. "Okay." I replied and we slammed hands.

Then the others came up to me, still amazed. "Zenna?" Fishlegs asked. "The one and only." I curtsied playfully. "Y-you're back! That's…quite a surprise." Snotlout said uncertainly. "We didn't know you were coming back today." Ruffnut told me. "You totally surprised us!" Tuffnut added. "Which I'm pretty sure you were planning to do from the very beginning." Astrid smiled knowingly.

"It's good to see you guys too. Sorry if I didn't give any of you the heads up. Stryka and I were just so excited." I said, smiling as I watched Stryka have her own little reunion with her comrades. Then Toothless scampered over to me, his tail wagging with delight. "Toothless! Hey, you big lug!" I giggled as I was licked in the face. Toothless warbled happily and rolled onto his back, begging for a belly rub. "I missed you too, bud. You've grown so big." I smiled, gladly giving him the belly rub he wanted so much. Toothless crooned and smiled his big gummy grin while Stryka lovingly nuzzled him.

More greetings were exchanged for a couple more minutes until Trader Johann and my parents got all of my things off the ship. I turned to my friends, who were all looking at me expectantly. "What?" I asked, a little confused. "You need help moving back in?" Hiccup asked me, grinning. Seeing my parents struggle with some of the trunks along with Johann, I nodded. In no time, my things were being brought to my house.

"Thanks for bringing me and Stryka home, Johann." I thanked the trader. "I'm sure you'll make a fine doctor for Berk, Lady Zenna. May Odin bless you and your family." Johann said courteously as he took his leave. Going back to my house, I could see Hiccup and the gang helping my parents move my stuff back into my previously empty room. Rolling up my sleeves, I proceeded to put my room in order.

"What did you see out there, Zenna?" Astrid asked, helping me place my lab equipment on the table. "A lot of things, Astrid." I smiled, polishing all of my medals until they gleamed.

"Any new dragons?" Fishlegs inquired eagerly, arranging my newly acquired books on the shelves. "Sometimes Stryka and I didn't see a single dragon for miles. But every now and then, we _did _see a few. I think I've got a few sketches around here. But I didn't name them because I'm pretty sure that you already have them recorded in the Book of Dragons, Fishlegs." I replied as I leafed through one of my sketchbooks and found the drawings I wanted to show my chubby friend.

"Have you been in a battle before?" Tuffnut asked curiously. "A bunch of times. My fighting skills and healing skills were put to the test during those times." I shrugged. "Was there a lot of blood?" Ruffnut asked eagerly. "Blood and gore left and right. And a lot of injuries to treat." I nodded.

"Did you see anything awesome?" Snotlout asked next. "Oh, I've seen _plenty _of awesomeness." I grinned.

And to prove my point, I took out my map and laid it out on my bed. I saw Hiccup's eyes widen in amazement at the map's sheer size. "You and Stryka have been to all these places, Zen?" he asked in awe. "Only the ones I colored in with violet, Hicc. As you guys can see, while Stryka and I've been to lots of places, the world is _huge_." I told him, grandly gesturing to the patches of violet spread across the map which only added up to a very minuscule part of the map compared to all the other lands Stryka and I haven't explored.

Then I decided to show them some of my medical equipment. Good thing I kept them all in my belt bag. Most of my special instruments didn't really catch my friends' attention. But when I showed them my stethoscope, they all got interested.

"With this thing, you can listen to a person or dragon's heartbeat." I told them before calling Stryka over. She knew what to do since I've practiced some of my first aid techniques on her and she has always been happy to be my practice patient. I always made sure to give her extra salmon for that. Placing the ear nubs into my ears I placed the metal piece on Stryka's chest. "Mm-hmmm…Good and strong heartbeat as always." I observed, hearing the _lub lubs_ loud and clear. I called Hiccup over and handed him the stethoscope so he could try it on Toothless. "Wow…this is incredible…That's some ba-bum you got there, bud." Hiccup told his best dragon friend, earning a big, slobbery lick.

"It was fun to go out into the world…meet new people and help them while learning new things…It was amazing…But Stryka and I always remembered Berk when we were on the road. We really missed you guys. And it is so good to be back home." I shyly admitted. "Group hug!" Fishlegs suddenly shouted and the next thing I knew, all seven of us Dragon Riders were huddled together in a hug of sorts. Awkward as it may have seemed, I was still glad to be home and be a team again with my crazy friends.

When we were all done fixing up my room, I accompanied my parents to the grandstands at the cliffs. And then, Hiccup and the others took me and Stryka to get ready for the Dragon Race. After deciding on violet for our racing paint, Stryka and I listened attentively to Hiccup as he gave us a quick rundown on the rules. The entire island serves as the racetrack and the objective of the game is to get as many sheep into your dragon's assigned net at each lap. White sheep are worth one point each while the black sheep, which is released at the last lap, is worth ten. To add to the danger and fun, Riders and dragons have to dodge various obstacles and simultaneously keep an eye out for their opponents as they try to steal each other's sheep.

"The game is aggressive, dirty, and full of rule-breaking sabotage." Hiccup grinned at me as he helped me apply the finishing touches on my lightning bolt face paint design. "Just the way we Vikings like it." I said gamely. Stryka and Toothless both began to psych themselves up as Hiccup and I got on their backs. When we got to our starting positions, the stands were already packed. I waved to Mom and Dad, who excitedly waved back.

"Hold on, there are only _five _nets. We've got six dragons competing." I pointed out, noticing the colorfully painted net labels. "Until we get a net constructed for you and Stryka, Zen, you're Hiccup's racing partner." Astrid smiled.

Hiccup and I looked at each other and grinned.

"Aw, great…They'll win by a landslide!" Snotlout whined as he leaned against Hookfang's horns. "Double the Night Furies, double the points." Tuffnut complained. "We're doomed!" Ruffnut concluded. "Good luck to us…" Fishlegs mumbled.

"Hey, it's my first Dragon Race. I'll be lucky enough to get one point by the last lap." I laughed, reassuring them before leaning over to Hiccup. "We're gonna have them eat our dust." I whispered to him, making him chuckle.

That's when I heard Snotlout and Fishlegs arguing over who was gonna get more points in this race…_for __**Ruffnut**__?_

I watched with wide eye as the two boys desperately tried to impress the female Thorston. "Just you wait, babe. In the blink of an eye, you'll have every sheep in your net." Snotlout said suavely. "No way! _I'm _gonna get every last one including the black sheep!" Fishlegs countered. Ruffnut just groaned, tuning the two of them out. Poor Tuffnut, on the other hand, had covered his ears and shut his eyes while repeatedly chanting, "Please let the race start…please let the race start…"

"Holy…Holy…_Holy…_Shields…" I muttered, turning to Hiccup and Astrid with a completely shocked expression on my face. They started to laugh once they saw how confounded I was. And really, I was!

I mean, Fishlegs _and _Snotlout fighting over _Ruffnut_? What in Odin's name happened while Stryka and I were gone?!

"Ruff's the only single girl in their age group, Zen. They're _that _desperate." Hiccup informed me, still chuckling a bit. "I don't know who to pity first: Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut or _Tuffnut_. So I take it that Snotlout finally gave up on you, Astrid?" I looked at the blonde shield maiden expectantly. "He gave up once he saw it was official. By the way, did you meet any potential suitors out there Zen?" she asked, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief.

Well, that question made me clam up. Instinctively, I reached up my neck to hold my pendant. Hiccup gave me a questioning look which I tried really hard to ignore. But as I struggled to come up with an answer to Astrid's query, a memory that I had kept locked away in the safety of my mind for so many years resurfaced.

(_Zen's flashback starts_)

'_Four year old Zenna whined, uselessly kicking her little legs as she dangled upside-down from the tree. All she wanted to do was go pick some flowers in the woods before it got too dark and all of a sudden, she got caught in a rope snare trap! This was not how she wanted her day to end. Now the sun was beginning to set and she was still stuck…_

"Hello? Can somebody please get me down? Pleaaassseee?!" _she had then resorted to calling for help when she heard voices coming her way._

"Let's check that snare of yours to see if we caught anything, Eret!" _the first voice belonged to her dear big brother, Elias. Another voice followed, this time, slightly older-sounding and somewhat accented. _"Alright, Elias, I'm coming!"

_That's when Zenna saw…him._

_Black hair, brown eyes and all bravery and confidence rolled into one young boy walking over to her with a slightly surprised look on his face. Violet met brown and Zenna couldn't help but smile like a love struck little girl, which she really was._

"Hello…" _she said softly, still hanging upside-down. The boy stared back at her for a few seconds before smiling back. _"Hi…"_ he said quietly. Then Elias came in, looking both shocked and confused at the same time._

"Zen? How'd you get up _there_?!" he asked, slightly panicking. "I accidentally stepped into the trap. Don't worry, Eli, I'm okay."_ Zenna chirped. The boy who was with her brother looked at her again before looking at Elias._

"Not exactly the wild rabbit we were hoping to get, Elias." _He chuckled and then quickly added, _"No disrespect to _you_, milady." _With a courtly bow. _"My name isn't '_milady_', it's Zenna Arrowhead Fiersome." _Zenna giggled, remembering to state her full name to every trustworthy person she met so they would know her like her parents taught her. The boy's brown eyes widened. _

"…_Fiersome?_ As in…?" _the boy mumbled before Elias politely cut in. _"She's the little sister I've been telling you about, Eret." _Zenna's five year old brother said proudly. The boy looked at Zenna, who curiously cocked her head to the side._

"You didn't tell me she was _that _pretty…" _the boy suddenly said. Zenna giggled, her cheeks turning slightly pink. The boy then realized that he had voiced his thoughts out loud and his whole face turned scarlet. _"D-did I say that out loud?" _he stuttered, making Zenna giggle again. Elias couldn't contain the smirk on his face as he nodded._

_That's when Zenna started to feel dizzy and decided to move onto more important matters._

"Can you two get me down?"

_Hanging upside-down from that tree for a pretty long while made Zenna's memory of the next events a little fuzzy. All she remembered during that time before being right side up again was seeing her big brother climbing up the tree, the feeling of falling for a short while and, finally, finding herself safe and sound in the other boy's arms._

"Well, Zenna Arrowhead Fiersome since I know your name, I might as well tell you mine. I'm _Eret, Son of Eret_." _the boy, who Zenna now knew, said kindly as the three of them walked back to their village. _"Eret's our commandant in our Wolf Pack Army, Zen. He's the best young warrior in the army." _Elias told the little girl. Zenna looked up at Eret, who smiled at her. And that's when she pretty much realized that she was in love…_'

(_Zen's flashback ends_)

Oh gods, why did I suddenly remember that right now?! I sighed and shook my head to forget it before seeing all of my friends and their dragons looking at me funny. Blushing furiously, I mumbled, "It's nothing…"

But they didn't look too convinced, which made me start freaking out.

Thank the gods Stoick chose that moment to stand up from his throne, silencing the crowd. My friends immediately forgot about my weirdness and got ready. The race was about to begin!

"Today will be a race to remember! Not only has my son, the Pride of Berk, returned from his temporary absence (_I looked at Hiccup questioningly at that. He just rolled his eyes and smiled knowingly at his father_) from the games but we will have a new Dragon Racer! But we all know her for she is our '_Heroine of Berk_' and one of Berk's Original Dragon Trainers alongside my son. Now, she has returned with a new name for herself. People of Berk, rejoice! For Zenna Fiersome, _the Dragon Doctor_, has come home!" Stoick announced grandly.

The crowds went nuts.

"_Zen-na! Zen-na! Zen-na!_" the Vikings cheered energetically while the dragons roared excitedly for Stryka, who crooned appreciatively. Not wanting to disappoint all of our fans, Stryka and I did a quick round around the stands and high-fived the people and dragons.

"Show 'em how it's done, Zen!" "Have fun, love!" my parents cheered from their seats beside the Chief and Gobber. I smiled and glanced at Hiccup and Toothless. "You and Stryka ready for this, Zen?" Hiccup asked coyly. Stryka chuffed and excitedly bounced, making me bounce as well. "We were born ready, Hicc." I replied.

And with that, the starting horn blew and we were off!

Since Toothless and Stryka are both Night Furies, Hiccup and I naturally got the head start. The four of us soared around the island, getting the specially painted target sheep. The others gamely chased us, trying to steal our sheep. But as always, Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I were one step ahead of them. We zigzagged, dove and did all kinds of acrobatics to evade their moves. Six laps had gone by and Hiccup and I were in the lead with 9 sheep. Astrid was tailing us with 8, the Twins at 5 while Snotlout and Fishlegs trailed behind with 0.

"We're gonna win this!" I whooped, holding a sheep up high. Then Astrid swooped in and grabbed it. I groaned, face palming myself. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to boast…

Luckily, I had a plan.

"Watch this." I winked at Hiccup before Stryka sped after Stormfly. I made sure that we were directly above Astrid before I executed my plan.

"Alright, Stryka! Partial barrel roll!" At my command, Stryka did exactly what I asked for and kept on flying upside-down. Letting my arms dangle over my head, I quickly snatched the sheep away from Astrid. I looked down at her surprised face and smiled. Bet she didn't see that coming!

"Thank you!" I grinned cheekily before flying over to the net that had the Night Fury emblem painted on the hatch and dropped another sheep in, making our score 10.

"How…?" Hiccup asked me, amazed as we got on our seventh lap. "Did you really think Stryka and I didn't learn any new tricks while we were gone?" I asked coyly as we dodged an obstacle pole. Now it was Hiccup's turn to do something daring. He pulled a lever in his saddle that locked Toothless' red prosthetic tail fin into place, got his metal leg out of the left stirrup, and leaped off of Toothless! His target was a sheep Snotlout was holding.

"Here's one more point for you, my princess!" Snotlout hollered to Ruffnut, preparing to toss the sheep to her and her brother. That's when Hiccup snuck up from behind and grabbed the sheep, leaping off Hookfang's back and back onto the safety of Toothless'.

"Nice move, Hiccup!" I cheered. That's when I heard the horn blow again.

"Last lap, Zen!" Hiccup alerted me. "The black sheep!" Fishlegs yelled as we all spotted the hapless animal fly up into the air via sheep launcher (_one of Hiccup's many new inventions_).

Unfortunately Hiccup and I were quite a ways far from it so the Twins got it. But not for long…

As Hiccup and I flew alongside each other, we both quickly formulated a plan. "When I give you the signal, you and Stryka go for it." Hiccup instructed me. "Got it." I nodded seriously.

Once we were right behind the Twins and Barf and Belch, Hiccup shouted, "Go!" and I quickly jumped onto the Twins' Hideous Zippleback's back while Stryka flew underneath, shadowing them. Lucky for me, the Twins were busy bickering over who got to hold the black sheep. That gave me the opportunity to run and grab the black sheep, and then jump off and land back on Stryka. At that moment, Snotlout tried to swing his hammer at me! Good thing I quickly tossed the sheep up to Hiccup and Toothless while simultaneously avoiding another obstacle, which Snotlout and Hookfang smashed themselves into.

"Owww!" I heard Snotlout yelp as Hiccup and I flew to our net. "Well it looks like I know who my first patient's going to be." I shrugged. Hiccup just laughed and slammed the black sheep into our net, ending the race.

Everyone went ballistic!

"Hiccup and Zenna take the game!" Stoick boomed. "Zen-na! Zen-na! Zen-na!" the crowds cheered. "That's our girl!" my parents whooped.

Hiccup and I landed along with the others. Smiling widely, I hugged Stryka first. "We won our first Dragon Race, girl! We did it!" I grinned. Stryka warbled and licked my face.

"You and Hiccup are still the best, Zen." Astrid complimented me as Stormfly squawked in agreement. "Those moves were crazy." Ruffnut told me, petting Barf's head. "You gotta teach us those!" Tuffnut added, bouncing on Belch's head. Snotlout (_who had chipped a tooth from bashing into that obstacle pole earlier_) was still rubbing his sore mouth, but gave me a thumbs-up. "Your teamwork and flying abilities with Stryka have increased 100 percent up, Zen." Fishlegs commented me.

I then glanced at Hiccup, who was giving Toothless a good scratch behind his ears. When he caught my eye, Hiccup strolled over to me. "You just keep surprising me." He smiled. "Isn't that what all sisters do to their brothers?" I asked jokingly. Then, just for old time's sake, we hugged.

A chorus of '_Awws_…' sounded from the stands.

My parents, Gobber and Stoick soon came down from their perch to where we were gathered. "You've done us proud, sweetheart!" Dad playfully ruffled my hair. "That was by far, the most thrilling race we've ever seen!" Mom giggled, patting her belly. "First day back and you've already won a race. Good job, lass!" Gobber said jovially. "Well done, Zenna. And exemplary flying as always, son." Stoick beamed proudly at me and Hiccup.

Hiccup and I smiled and nodded before getting on our dragons. "Victory lap around the island?" Hiccup asked. "Definitely." I nodded before we lifted off, the crowd's cheering still roaring in our wake.

We flew around Berk, taking in all the sights and sounds. I was pointing out water towers, windmills and all kinds of interesting works of sheer genius to Hiccup, asking on what they were. And Hiccup gladly told me of all the new developments that had been made to the entire island. Berk now had underground stables, a Dragon Armory that also served as the forge and a clinic of sorts, a Dragon Wash, all-you-can-eat feeding stations…basically, a _lot _of great improvements.

Even the whole island itself looked different. It was more colorful and more peaceful than the last time Stryka and I saw it.

Then, we headed to the one place that hadn't changed over all the years.

The Cove.

"Stryka and I can't tell you and Toothless how much we've missed this place, Hiccup." I sighed, gazing at the sanctuary where Hiccup and I met our two best dragon friends in the whole, wide world. Hiccup smiled and then took out a wrapped package from his saddlebag and handed it to me. I curiously opened it.

My mouth dropped open in amazement when I took out pieces of leather armor that looked exactly like Hiccup's, only altered to suit my style and with a violet dragon pin.

"It's a flight suit that I made for you. I did the best I could on estimating your size. D-do you like it?" he asked sheepishly. I examined every detail carefully. I could tell that Hiccup had spent a great amount of time on it. Every stitch, every buckle was carefully and made especially for me. Next to the Isle of Zen, this has got to be one of Hiccup's best gifts to me in all the 12 years I've known him.

"It's…it's amazing, Hiccup. I-I don't know what to say…" I mumbled. Figuring that I should try the suit on, I made the sign for both Hiccup and Toothless to turn around. They willingly obliged and averted their eyes.

Taking off my white coat, revealing my regular everyday clothes: a violet tunic, black leggings and my leather skirt, I began to put on the suit. Easier said than done, there were just so many buckles and straps to fumble with!

"How in Thor's hammer do you manage to wear this thing every day?" I asked loudly, admitting defeat. Hiccup didn't answer, but I could see his shoulders shake as he stifled his laughs. "Oh, just help me out with this already!" I whined, giving him the signal to face me again.

It took about 10 minutes to get the suit on. Some pieces were easy enough for me to put on myself while the rest of the complicated parts required Hiccup's assistance. When it was all done, I moved about to make sure everything was a perfect fit. Good thing Hiccup's measurements were close to accurate and he had allotted some room.

"It fits perfect." I smiled at him. "What do you wanna do now?" Hiccup asked. "We got a lot of catching up to do. Let's just stay here and talk." I suggested.

And we did just that.

For the rest of the day, while Toothless and Stryka did some catching up of their own, Hiccup and I stayed in the Cove and talked. Hiccup told me of all the adventures he and the others have had over the years as well as the new dragons he and Toothless discovered while exploring new lands. He showed me the map he made. I was pretty impressed. Then I noticed the hunk of metal attached to his right leg.

"What's this little thing?" I asked, unlatching it from its holder and toyed with it. "I call it _Inferno_. It's my Dragon Blade." Hiccup answered proudly. "_Dragon _Blade?" I raised an eyebrow at him before my finger alighted on one of the two switches. To my surprise, a sword blade popped out of one end and it was _on fire!_

"Holy Shields! How? When? Wha…?" I exclaimed in shock. "The blade's coated in Monstrous Nightmare saliva." Hiccup informed me before retracting the blade back into the hilt and flipped it over.

"The other end spews out Hideous Zippleback gas." He continued, flicking on another switch that sent a steady stream of explosive gas spewing out and upward. "All they both take is a little spark and…"

BOOM!

With another click of the switch, the gas ignited. Toothless and Stryka promptly began to bat at the embers slowly floating down to the ground while Hiccup and I watched.

"You've started carrying a weapon. Impressive." I beamed at Hiccup. Then it was my turn to tell some stories. I told him about learning the healing arts under the great Hippocrates in Greece, being sent out into the world to learn of new healing methods from different lands all across the world as well as all the crazy adventures and escapades Stryka and I had had over the past five years with some of the equally crazy people we'd met.

"And they weren't scared of Stryka?" Hiccup asked me. "Well when we first arrived at Greece, Stryka did unintentionally spook some of the locals. But once we helped fight off an invasion in the city, everyone accepted her. We even got to meet the Emperor! While out in the field, we had to be careful because some people didn't quite see Stryka as a friend. Sometimes, our journey was dangerous. But luckily, Stryka and I knew how to outsmart anyone who tried to mess with us." I said modestly.

But when our talking got into the topic of family, I was shocked to discover that Hiccup had been avoiding his father.

"Why would you avoid your Dad? I thought you guys already patched things up." I asked him, confused. Hiccup took a while to answer before he finally sighed in defeat. "He wants me to take over as Chief. But…I don't know, Zen. There's a whole world out there that Toothless and I wanna explore, and if I become Chief now…we might never be able to go out there…" he said wistfully. Lying down on our backs, the two of us watched the sky turn all shades of pink and violet as the day began to end.

"You know, Hiccup…Becoming the Chief of Berk…you're more than cut out for it. You're fearless, intelligent, clever, kind, caring, compassionate, a diplomat, a master inventor and weapons maker…plus, you're the first ever Dragon Trainer and the best Dragon Rider. If none of those things make a great future Chief, then I don't know what does." I told him. Hiccup looked at me, still a bit unsure.

"He also wants me to marry Astrid and start a family." He added. I had to laugh at that. "Can you blame him? He's 50 years old already, that's a normal age for a man to want to have grandchildren!" I giggled. "Oh, shut up!" Hiccup laughed, before launching a tickle attack!

"Hahahaha! Oh yeah? Take this!" I laughed, retaliating with a tickle attack of my own. We rolled around, laughing like fools until we couldn't take it anymore and collapsed breathlessly.

Once I had calmed myself down, I looked at Hiccup with a smile. "Hiccup, just remember that when you're ready for all of this, I'll be right by your side and will always have your back." I promised him. He smiled back at me as we cuddled up. "I missed hearing you say that…I missed you so much, Zen…" he said softly, wrapping his arms around me. I smiled and gladly hugged him, pressing my ear to his chest. Even with all that leather armor on, I could still hear Hiccup's strong and steady heartbeat.

"To be honest with you, I'm a little nervous myself…I'm gonna be a big sister…I'm also gonna be a doctor for the whole village…It's kind of scary…" I admitted. "And I've been hearing your parents getting on your case about not finding a suitor." Hiccup said, looking at me curiously. I blushed and averted my gaze. "It's…complicated, Hiccup. The whole '_me falling in love_' thing…I…I just…" I trailed off, suddenly looking down at my pendant again.

Twelve whole years and I hadn't seen _him_…

Where was he…?

"Zenna, you're the bravest and most caring girl I've ever known. You'll find someone someday, I'm sure of it." Hiccup's reassuring voice suddenly brought my focus back to my best human friend. I smiled to show that I agreed with him.

But deep down, intense longing filled my heart.

'_That's the problem. I've __**already **__found someone…_' I wanted to say that to him so badly, but I knew better than to talk about…_him_.

Gah, I can't even say his name already without losing my cool!

But then I decided to focus on more important things. I was home, I was finally gonna fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor and I've got a new sibling on the way…those were now the things I lived for.

"But you know what, Hicc? Love can wait. Stryka and I are finally home and that's all that matters to me now." I sighed, snuggling up to him. Hiccup smiled and softly kissed my forehead. "Welcome home, Zen…" he whispered as Toothless and Stryka joined us and curled up with us in the Cove.

I smiled, enjoying this moment. I had my entire life in front of me and I was more than ready to live it.

"…_Good to be home_." I whispered to Hiccup as we watched the sunset.

I was home and I was happy.

**How is it? This is probably going to be the longest chapter in the story and I worked pretty hard on it. Chapter 2's going to have the official movie transcript lines included so it's something to look forward to.**

**Read and review, those two things make me happy and inspire me to write even more ;)**

**Love you guys!**

**-GuardianDragon98**


	2. Together, We Map the World

**Chapter Two is here! This is going to be an intense story from now on. Prepare your feels!**

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD2 and all rights go to their respective owners.**

**Chapter 2: Together, We Map the World**

'_This is Berk. The best kept secret this side of…well, anywhere. Granted, it may not look like much, but this wet heap of rock packs more than a few surprises. Life here is amazing. Just not for the faint of heart. You see, where most folks enjoy hobbies like whittling or needlepoint, we Berkians prefer a little something we like to call…DRAGON RACING!_

_Now, dragons used to be a bit of a problem here, but that was five years ago. Now they've all moved in. And really, why wouldn't they? We have custom stables, all-you-can-eat feeding stations, a full-service dragon wash, even top-of-the-line fire prevention, if Hiccup and I do say so ourselves._

_Yep. Berk is pretty much perfect. All of my and Hiccup's hard work has paid off. And it's a good thing, too, because with Vikings on the backs of dragons…_

_The world just got a whole lot bigger…_'

It's been a month ever since Stryka and I returned home to Berk. And life has been good. I'm now in charge of the Dragon Armory's Dragon and Viking Clinic, where I treat any human or dragon malady for a reasonable fee, already earning enough to support myself and still going on lots of epic adventures with all of my friends.

My parents are now super psyched for the arrival of the baby. My Dad's practically going loco coco with making the nursery while my Mom's been sewing clothes like crazy. Me? I'm pretty psyched too. I've been doing double shifts to earn extra to support my parents. Mom and Dad keep telling me to save the money for myself, but I always tell them that I think of them first before my own needs.

Now I bet you're all wondering if I'm currently competing in today's Dragon Race, right?

Wrong.

I'm out with Stryka right now, exploring new lands with Hiccup and Toothless.

We're flying over the ocean now, free as dragons and doing all kinds of acrobatic tricks. A pod of Thunderdrums just started jumping out of the waves and Toothless and Stryka skillfully weaved among them. Hiccup and I were having a blast as we flew up higher into the clouds, our dragons roaring with glee, as we flew with a few wild Timberjacks.

Then Hiccup straightened up. "What do 'ya think, bud? You wanna give this another shot?" he asked Toothless.

Oh, boy…

Toothless groaned a complaint to which Hiccup cheerfully said, "Toothless, it'll be fine!"

When Hiccup glanced at me, I rolled my eye and smiled. "If you think I'm gonna let you try that crazy solo gliding stunt all by yourself, you've got another thing coming." I told him. Stryka warbled at me with concern. Hiccup and I have done this a bunch of times already. Admittedly, it always ended in near death experiences. But our best dragon friends were always there to catch us.

"Don't worry, Stryka. I'll be careful." I reassured my dragon, gently patting her head.

Hiccup then pushed his prosthetic leg forward, activating the locking mechanism on Toothless' tail and sat up straight. I straightened up as well before we looked at each other.

"Ready?" Hiccup asked me and Toothless. Toothless chuffed and hovered while I said, "Let's do this!" pumping my fist in the air.

Closing our eyes, we both took deep breaths…and slid off the saddles.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" "KYYYYAAAAHHHH!" Hiccup and I yelled at the top of our lungs as we hurtled through the air, our two loyal Night Furies diving after us.

Let me tell you something about free falling from the back of a dragon. It's the most extreme kind of trust exercise out there. While there's the fun in the wind slapping you awake with the thrill, there's also great danger if you and your dragon don't have a firm bond of trust.

Lucky for me and Hiccup, we happen to have the strongest bond of both trust _and _friendship with our dragons.

"YEAH! WHOOOO-HOOOO!" Hiccup and I both hollered as we continued our descent. Toothless and Stryka caught up with us and we free fell together.

"YEAH!" Hiccup cheered to Toothless, who let his tongue flap in the wind. I laughed before looking at Stryka, who grinned toothlessly at me.

The ocean soon came into view through the clouds. Positioning ourselves, Hiccup and I got ready…and snapped our flight suits open. Inserting our arms through special loops situated at our legs, we pulled our arms into a t-position and the wind pouched under the leather wings. In no time, Hiccup and I were gliding alongside Toothless and Stryka. Quickly, we both hit the buttons on our flight suits to have the back fins pop up. Hiccup's fin was red while mine was violet and both served as a way for us to remain stable while gliding. Hiccup and I looked at each other. Even if his face was covered by his helmet's visor, I could tell that Hiccup was smiling widely just like I was.

"Whoo-hoo!" "Yaaahooo!" Hiccup and I whooped as we soared through the clouds like dragons. Toothless and Stryka, who were right behind us, then fired out a few shots to generate hot air pockets so we could practice maneuvering.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" Hiccup yelled with glee. I was about to agree with him, when I saw something looming up ahead of us in the fog.

Namely…

"_Sea stacks!_" I shrieked in alarm. If Hiccup and I collided with those things, it was over for us both! Hiccup heard my warning and looked ahead, spotting the dangerous obstacles.

"No longer amazing! TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup shouted. "Stryka, rescue maneuvers!" I yelled. Quickly, our two best dragon friends hurried to catch us.

And to make the situation all the more dangerous, our suits malfunctioned!

"OH, NO! AHH!" "MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" Hiccup and I screamed before Toothless and Stryka caught us and blasted the sea stack we were about to crash into with their plasma blasts.

Safely wrapped in Stryka's wings, I felt myself get tossed around for a while until things stabilized. We must've crash landed on some rocky terrain…

Crawling out of Stryka's protective cocoon, I quickly did an inspection on my person. No broken bones, no bumps, no bruises, no cuts and scrapes…and I still have one working eye. I then looked at Stryka, who staggered to her feet and shook the dust off. She looked like she was okay. And, after a little mini check up, I deemed her to be in the pink of health.

"We're okay! Hiccup, did you lose anything else?" I called out to my best human friend, who was in the process of switching out his riding foot with his walking foot as he and Toothless recovered from the crash. I was given a thumbs-up, indicating that both Hiccup and Toothless were okay.

"Ah…Whoo! That really came out of nowhere." Hiccup said breathlessly as he stood up and Stryka and I went over to him and Toothless. A sudden rumbling sound made us look back at where we came and we saw the sea stack Toothless and Stryka had blasted earlier crumble and collapse.

Toothless and Stryka looked at us questioningly and warbled.

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about crashing into those things anymore." I remarked as Hiccup and I folded up our flight suit wings.

"We've really got to work on your solo gliding there, bud. That, uh, locked up tail makes for some pretty sloppy rescue maneuvers, hey?" Hiccup told Toothless as he fixed himself up. "Technically Hiccup, Toothless' solo gliding was pretty okay. I think _we're _the ones who need to work on _our _solo gliding." I pointed out, watching him take off his helmet.

Once we were all good and fixed up, Hiccup and I scoped out the area. The island we had ended up on was filled with aspen trees and covered in fog. As we looked out over a cliff, Hiccup and I got a pretty good view of a beautiful valley.

"Wow…Pretty cool place huh, Stryka?" I said in awe. "Oh. Looks like we found another one, bud." Hiccup grinned, glad that our little flying mishap had a pretty good outcome.

That's when we both got hit by pebbles. Hiccup and I turned around, a little surprised and annoyed, to see Stryka and Toothless pouting.

"Oh…Is someone mad? Is that why you threw a pebble at me, Stryka sweetie?" I cooed at Stryka in jest. "Oh, what? You want an apology? Is that why you're pouting, big baby-boo?" Hiccup asked Toothless, trying to get his best dragon friend to forget the incident.

Toothless and Stryka both made sounds that sounded a lot like, '_I'm not pouting!_' that were so adorably funny that Hiccup and I couldn't take them seriously.

"Well, try this on!" Hiccup suddenly lunged at Toothless. I started to laugh as he tried to wrestle with him, while it honestly looked like he was hugging him.

"Oh, you feeling it yet? Huh? Picking up on all my heartfelt remorse?" Hiccup asked, still trying to move Toothless who stayed as steadfast as a rock. Stryka was now rumbling in amusement at her mate's deadpan look.

I then laughed harder as Toothless stood on his hind legs and walked over to the edge of the cliff, with Hiccup dangling from his neck!

"Oh, come on, come on. Yeah-yeah. You wouldn't hurt a one-legged—" Hiccup stuttered before looking behind and down him. He was practically dangling over the cliff now with nothing but air between him and the ground hundreds of feet below!

"AHH!" my best human friend then screamed, clinging onto Toothless for dear life. And I could've sworn that I heard Toothless laugh! "Surrender now, Hiccup?" I asked, smirking a bit.

Hiccup was quick to respond. "O-oh, oh. You're right, you're right. You win…You win." He said in defeat. Gladly obliging to his master's silent plea for mercy, Toothless fell backward with Hiccup yelping, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ahaha!"

"Those two are goofballs." I giggled to Stryka. She laughed as well, before suddenly tackling me to the ground! I barely had time to react before she promptly licked my face! "Bwahahahahahaha! Oh no, I'm…hahaha…! Being attacked by a crazed dragoness! Hahahahaha! Stryka, that tickles!" I shrieked with laughter while Hiccup and Toothless did some rough housing of their own.

"He's down! Oh, and it's ugly!" Hiccup shouted as he and Toothless began to play fight, Toothless harmlessly batting him with his paws. "Dragons and Vikings, enemies again! Locked in combat to the bitter—" Hiccup managed to say before Toothless plopped his head on his stomach and pinned him down.

"AAHHHhhhh…" I heard Hiccup groan in pretend defeat. Stryka was still tickling and covering me with slobber until I cried out, "I admit defeat! Waving the proverbial white flag of surrender here!" Upon hearing me say that, Stryka got off of me.

"This is never gonna wash out…" I sighed, wiping dragon saliva off my suit. Stryka just smiled cheekily at me. "You clever sneak attacker…" I smiled, giving her a gentle pat on her head.

And Hiccup was the next to get the overdose of dragon affection courtesy of Toothless.

"You _know _that doesn't wash out!" he exclaimed as he stood up, shaking the spit off. Toothless merely laughed his deep throaty dragon laugh. To get even, Hiccup splashed some of his spit at him.

Once playtime was over, Hiccup and I got down to serious business, which was adding this new land to Hiccup's map and cataloging the place's medicinal plants for my Medical Journal.

Hiccup unfolded his map, got a new blank sheet of paper that Toothless glued to the ever-expanding map with his spit, sharpened his charcoal with his pocket knife and opened up his compass. I, on the other hand, found some _**Glechoma hederacea **_growing in a patch by some rocks as well as an _**Achillea millefolium **_plant not far from where Hiccup was as he drew his surroundings on the map.

I took out my portable Plant Press, a device I had invented while I was still studying in Greece and that Hiccup had helped me upgrade not long after I came home, and got the useful parts of both plants and placed them on sheets of paper. I then inserted them into my Plant Press' slot and cranked the small handle at the side. The top part pressed down, drawing out all the juices from the plants and drying them effectively. Once that was done, I inserted them in my Medical Journal, where I keep dried specimens of all medicinal plants I find along with all my formulas for potions, salves, brews and tonics.

Hiccup and I worked side by side in silence. Then Hiccup asked, "So…What should we name it?" To answer him, Toothless chewed at his armpit. Stryka stuck out her tongue, a little disgusted. "Itchy Armpit, it is." Hiccup proclaimed, writing the name down on the map. "That's a pretty…unique name. Maybe there's another name we could use?" I suggested innocently. Hiccup smiled at me. "Sorry, Zen. You and Stryka already named that other island we found two days ago '_Whistling Winds Isle_' so Toothless and I get to name this place now." He reminded me.

"Well at least Whistling Winds was a fitting name to _our _discovery. That isle's weird rock formations allowed the wind to pass through and made whistling sounds whenever it blew." I also reminded him. But, hey, I mostly agree with whatever Hiccup wants so I'm cool.

Hiccup turned to Toothless as we curiously eyed the map. "Whad'ya reckon bud? Think we might find a few Timberjacks in those woods? The odd Whispering Death or two in the rocks? Who knows? Maybe we'll finally track down another Night Fury." He said thoughtfully before looking at me, Toothless and Stryka.

"Wouldn't that be something?" he asked us. Stryka and Toothless rumbled in agreement. "Don't worry, you two. One day…we'll find your family. You two can't be the only ones…" I reassured them as Hiccup and I shared a mutual look of understanding.

Truthfully, Hiccup and I were getting really worried. It's been five years…and we still hadn't found a single Night Fury. And Toothless and Stryka haven't had a brood of hatchlings yet. We were both worried that we might never discover whether if our two best dragon friends were the last of their kind or not…

"So what do you say? Just keep going?" Hiccup asked us. "I'm up for that." I smiled at him. Toothless and Stryka, on the other hand, said "_Nwooo_…"

The shriek of a Deadly Nadder and flapping of wings then got our attention. Turning around, Hiccup and I saw Astrid and Stormfly come in for a landing. "It's amazing how they tracked us down so fast." I remarked as Astrid took off her fur hood.

"Afternoon, Milady. Where have you been?" Hiccup asked, happy to see her while Toothless and Stryka bounded over to the tough Hofferson shield maiden to greet her. "Hi!" Astrid giggled, giving them pats on their heads before looking at me and Hiccup.

"Oh, winning races. What else?" she replied casually. Stormfly, Toothless and Stryka were now doing some sort of greeting dance that involved some pretty funny movements. I had to smile at those three dragons' antics. It was just so cute!

"The real question is, where have _you _been?" Astrid asked, directing her question at Hiccup who kept working on the map. "Avoiding my Dad." Hiccup answered as he added a few more drawings. "Oh no. What happened now?" Astrid asked, looking at me next. "To be honest, I just followed him when Stryka and I saw him and Toothless take off." I shrugged. I didn't really know why Hiccup had left so early this morning. I was just finishing up an examination on a sick Terrible Terror at the Clinic when I saw Hiccup and Toothless leave. Naturally, I got Stryka saddled up and we followed them. But I didn't bother to ask Hiccup why he just flew off all of a sudden because I knew that he'd been avoiding Stoick and the pressures of being future Chief lately.

"Oh, you're gonna—you're gonna love this. I wake up, the sun is shining, Terrible Terrors are singing on the rooftop, I saunter down to breakfast thinking that all is right with the world, and then I get: '_Son, we need to talk._'" Hiccup told me and Astrid (_who he had given his charcoal pencil so she could add her drawings to the map as well-a sure sign of their relationship going as strong and steady as ever_), the last part of his sentence in a pitch perfect imitation of his father's gruff voice as he stood up.

But before he could continue, Astrid interrupted with, "'_Not now, Dad. I've got a whole day of goofing off to get started._" While trying to imitate Hiccup's nasally voice!

Hiccup and I both laughed. But I kept my mouth shut and didn't say anything.

"Okay, first of all, I-I don't sound like that. Who—what is this character? And second, what is that thing you're doing with my shoulders?" Hiccup questioned, slightly amused as he rolled his shoulders a bit to emphasize his question. Astrid responded by bouncing her shoulders around, laughing softly as she did so.

"Yeah, a-a truly flattering impersonation." Hiccup said, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Oh, you two lovebirds are so fun to watch." I said, shaking my head in amusement.

Moving on, Hiccup continued with his tale. "Anyway he goes, '_You're the pride of Berk, son! And I couldn't be prouder!_'" he said, confidently tapping his chest lightly with his fist. "'_Ah, thanks, Dad! I'm pretty impressed with myself, too!_'" Astrid responded in her best Hiccup voice.

I just had to laugh! It was so funny because Astrid really _did _almost sound like him!

"When have I ever done that with my hands?" Hiccup asked while laughing. "You just did!" Astrid exclaimed, pointing him out. "It's true, Hicc! Don't deny it!" I laughed.

Sighing, Hiccup sat back down. "Just hold still. Very serious." He said to Astrid, trying to convey the seriousness of the conversation and failing as Astrid nodded in jest. But my best human friend was determined to finish the story, and also his Stoick impersonations.

"'_You're all grown up. And since no Chief could ask for a better successor, I've decided—'_" Hiccup managed to say before Astrid beat him to it. "To make you Chief!" she exclaimed as she stood up.

"Oh, my gods! Hiccup, that's AMAZING!" she said excitedly before giving Hiccup a hard punch to the gut, making his flight suit's back fin pop up!

I laughed again as Hiccup yelped in pain. "You're going to wear out the spring coil. The calibration is very sensitive." Hiccup told Astrid as he winded up his back fin to return itself back into place. Suddenly Toothless, Stryka and Stormfly rushed past us as they played tag! The three of us yelped as we were knocked down to the ground.

"You two okay?" I asked as I stood up, dusting myself off.

Hiccup nodded to me before looking at Astrid. "Yeah, so…this is what I'm dealing with." He told her as she helped him up. "What'd you tell him?" Astrid asked, dying to know the details. "I-I didn't. By the time he turned around, I was gone." Hiccup answered.

Yep, it was another case of Hiccup avoiding taking on the role of Berk's Chief again…

"Huh, well…that's a lot of responsibility." Astrid said as she turned away from Hiccup. I then saw Hiccup's face turn sullen and knew that this wasn't exactly something he felt good with. "Astrid…" I said warningly but she didn't exactly listen. "The map will have to wait, for sure, and I'll need to fly Toothless since you'll be too busy, but…" Astrid continued until I decided to speak up a bit louder. "Astrid." I said, raising my voice a bit. When she finally caught my eye, I motioned to Hiccup with my head.

She turned around and saw what I'd been seeing the entire time. Hiccup, the poor guy, looked pretty overwhelmed and really troubled. But who could blame him? Becoming Chief of your village is a monumentally huge responsibility. I've known Hiccup for 12 years and I know that he's more than cut out for the role. But I guess you could say that his self-assurance to take on being Chief still needs a little more work.

"I-It's not me, Astrid. All those speeches and planning and running the village, that's _his _thing." Hiccup said, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. "I think you're missing the point. I mean, Chief. What an honor. I'd be pretty excited." Astrid comfortingly said to him. Hiccup sighed as he picked up his helmet. "I'm not like you. _Both of you_." He told me and Astrid.

Astrid and I glanced at each other, a bit surprised.

Seeing our confused expressions, Hiccup explained to us. "You both know exactly who you are, and you two always have. But, me? I'm still looking. I know that I'm not my father, and I've never met my mother, so…_what does that make me?_" he told us as he sat down and looked out into the distance.

"It makes you _you_. You can never be somebody else, Hiccup, because you're your own person. You can't be anybody else because it's already been taken by everyone else." I said, sitting down next to him on the left and I gently placed my hand on his shoulder.

Astrid followed my lead and sat down next to him on the right. As she braided his hair (_again!_) Astrid said, "What you're searching for…isn't out there, Hiccup. _It's in here._" Placing her hand on his chest on the last sentence. My heart melted at the sweetness…and ached a little.

Glancing down at my pendant, I recalled yet another precious memory…

(_Zen's flashback start_)

'_Zenna, now six years old, was lying under a big fir tree with Eret who was now 11 years old. It was just morning and the two of them were already bored senseless. The fir tree's branches spread out wide and the tree itself seemed to touch the sky. Watching the birds soar overhead in silence, Zenna began to wonder. Finally she turned to Eret, who had closed his eyes, and asked,_

"What do you think flying is like, Eret?"

_Upon hearing that question, Eret opened his eyes and looked at Zenna curiously._

"Come again, Zen?" _Eret asked. _"What does flying feel like? Do the birds always feel a thrill whenever they take to the skies? Do their hearts beat fast when they launch themselves into the blue? I'm just curious." _Zenna asked, throwing her hands up in the air spontaneously to emphasize her boundless curiosity. Eret softly chuckled. He loved it whenever she got spontaneously curious about things._

"I'll have to ask some of our feathered friends here to get a specific answer. But if _I _was flying…I'd feel _free_. Up in the sky…I bet it's beautiful up there…" _he said, looking up at the sky in wonder. Zenna smiled as well. _"I'd like to go flying someday…" _she said, looking wonderstruck as well. _"When you do that, I hope you'll come down and tell me stories of what you've seen up there, Zen." _Eret smiled at her. _"Who says that you have to stay down here? I want you to come with me." _Zenna giggled. Eret looked at the little girl, a genuine smile of excitement on his face._

"You mean that?" _he asked. Zenna nodded emphatically as they both sat up. _"And when we're flying together, Eret…We're going to have adventures every day, _together_. You and me…Me and you." _Zenna whispered, gently placing her hand on Eret's chest. Eret couldn't help but smile as he gently placed his own hand over Zenna's, his hand slightly dwarfing the young Fiersome's petite hand._

"I'd really like that…" _Eret whispered in her ear as they sat under the fir tree together, watching the birds fly high up into the sky…_'

(_Zen's flashback ends_)

"Maybe you don't just see it yet."

Astrid's voice suddenly snapped me out of my reverie. I sighed in frustration and shook my head to clear my thoughts. Why was I suddenly remembering all of this?! Yes, I missed…_him _terribly but I didn't always obsess over him!

Instead of wondering why I kept remembering my past affairs of the heart, I focused on Hiccup and Astrid. I stifled a laugh as Astrid kissed my best human friend's cheek that still had a thin film of Toothless' saliva. But Hiccup was still looking out into the horizon so I followed his gaze.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary…wait, hold on…

Was that _smoke?_

I focused on a mountainside and saw a thin trail of smoke rising up from it. What was that?

"Hiccup…" I said in a low voice, a feeling of dread coming from the pit of my stomach.

"Maybe. But you know, there _is _something out there." Hiccup said, agreeing with my silent suggestion of heading out there to investigate. "Hiccup…" Astrid sighed, not seeing his point until Hiccup gently took hold of her chin and directed her gaze to the valley.

"We gotta check it out." I said, Stryka running to my side once she saw my worried face. Hiccup and Astrid nodded in agreement and called Stormfly and Toothless over. When we were all good and ready, Hiccup gave the go signal and we headed out.

But deep down…I couldn't help but feel that something was going to happen…

And what scared me a little was that…it might have something to do with _me_.

Little did I know that what was gonna happen next…was going to completely turn my world upside down and inside-out…

**Trivia time!**

_**Glechoma hederacea **_**is commonly known as Ground Ivy. It's a kind of plant that was used as traditional medicine in Europe going thousands of years back. It was commonly used as treatment for eye inflammation as well as in treating indigestion and bronchitis.**

_**Achillea millefolium **_**is commonly known as Yarrow. The genus name is named after the Greek hero Achilles and has a long history as a powerful healing herb used for the topical treatment of various wounds and lesions.**

**I did the best research I could on these because I wanted you guys to see how serious Zenna takes her profession as a doctor so I hoped you liked this!**

**Chapter 3…is probably going to make your feels meter go insane so, be prepared!**


	3. Eret, Son of Eret

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD 2 and all rights go to the respective owners.**

**Chapter 3: Eret, Son of Eret**

**Zenna's POV**

"This was no ordinary forest fire…" I murmured as we flew over the burnt forest, one part still covered in flames while the further part contained the charred remains of trees. The scent of smoke was overpowering as we flew across the fjord. Hiccup and Toothless were on point and Stryka and I were right beside them with Astrid and Stormfly right behind us.

Finally, we reached the fjord's opening…and were greeted by an astonishing sight.

A huge glacier like structure made of ice unlike any glacier we've ever seen before!

"Whoa…" "Holy Shields…" Hiccup and I both mumbled in awe. Hiccup turned back to look at Astrid, who looked kind of uneasy. "Stay close." He advised her before we cautiously flew over to the massive hunk of ice. It didn't take us long to see the ruined fort stuck in the jagged spires of ice. We were completely shocked. What kind of thing could have that much power and that much ice to destroy such a fortress?

"What happened here?" Hiccup wondered out loud. "Whatever it was, it was something _humongous_." I told him, noticing a gigantic footprint in the mud. Apparently I wasn't the only one feeling uneasy, for Toothless and Stryka growled warningly.

"Alright, easy, bud." "It's okay, Stryka, it's alright." Hiccup and I told our Night Furies soothingly. "Hiccup! Zenna!" Astrid whisper-shouted to us, seeing movement on some of the ice spires.

Suddenly, a voice cried out, "FIRE!" and a net was launched at us!

"Incoming!" I yelped as Stryka quickly flew out of the net's path. "ASTRID, LOOK OUT!" Hiccup yelled as he and Toothless avoided the net. Astrid and Stormfly weren't so lucky and they got caught!

"No! Aaahhh! Hiccup!" Astrid screamed as she was thrown off Stormfly as she plummeted. Luckily, Hiccup caught her. Now we had to rescue Stormfly!

When we came in for a landing, a bunch of men were already trying to keep Stormfly subdued. One of them, a man with black hair wearing a yellow fur vest, was leading them in tying her up. "Watch the tail! Ah! Tie those legs up!" he ordered as he lassoed Stormfly by the horn. My blood instantly began to boil with fury.

'_Nobody messes with any of my friends' dragons and gets away with it!_' I thought as Hiccup and I told Toothless and Stryka to land.

"STOP!" Hiccup yelled as we descended onto the ground. "Leave the Nadder alone!" I cried. "Stormfly!" Astrid shouted worriedly.

As soon as we got off our dragons, we readied our weapons. Astrid held up a jagged bit of wood (_her axe was still attached to Stormfly's saddle, you see_), Hiccup took out his flaming Dragon Blade, Inferno while I took out my battle sticks…and hit the switches.

Instantly, the top ends of both sticks screwed off and flaming iron spearheads popped out! Then I quickly attached the special iron cuff that bound my sticks together to make them into one, fire tipped battle staff! Trust me, it took all of my, Hiccup and Gobber's combined ingenuity and two weeks to make those upgrades. While the battle sticks originally belonged to Elias, I knew that he would want me to make them stronger and have more purpose so I did just that.

"What are you doing?!" Astrid asked the men, who we figured were Dragon Trappers, angrily as Hiccup and I waved our flaming weapons around. "Whoa!" the other trappers, save their leader, were amazed and temporarily distracted.

"Back again?" the leader then said before he focused on Toothless and Stryka, who growled aggressively. "Soil my breeches. Those _are _Night Furies. I thought they were all gone for good." He said in mock admiration, which made me all the more mad.

"Looks like our luck's turn for the better, lads." The leader said to his crew, casually planting one foot on Stormfly's snout before adding, "Don't think Drago has one of _those _in his dragon army."

That piqued my interest. A Dragon _Army_?

"Dragon army…?" Astrid mumbled out loud, also as suspicious as I was. Hiccup, meanwhile, tried to diffuse the situation before things got ugly. "Look, we don't want any trouble." He said to the leader carefully.

To which he replied with, "Ha! You should have thought of that before you stole all of our dragons and blasted our fort to bits." Gesturing angrily to the remains of the fort. His men shouted angrily in agreement.

"What are you…talking about?" "What are you accusing us for?" "You think _we _did _this_?" the three of us all asked. "Ha. Dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is without do-gooder Dragon Riders sneaking in to rescue them." The lead trapper said disdainfully while he kept a watchful eye on Stormfly.

"What do gooder—" Hiccup began to ask when he remembered something important. "There are _other _Dragon Riders?" my best human friend asked. "I thought we were the only ones…" I murmured to myself in shock. I guess Berk wasn't the only place in the world that had dragons coexisting happily together with humans…this was quite a discovery.

The trapper we were talking to didn't seem too interested with our questions. "You mean, other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me. You may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side…but we still have a quota to fill. How do you suppose we explain this to _Drago Bludvist_?" he asked us, narrowing his eyes at us.

I was about to tell him that we'd never heard of a thing such as an ice-spitting dragon when I noticed that his eyes were…a familiar shade of brown. But where had I seen that shade before…? Slight amber like look to them…really familiar…

"Drago What-vist? Does _anything _you say make sense?" Hiccup asked sarcastically. One of the trappers stepped forward. "He's expecting a new shipment of dragons for his army by tomorrow." He told us grimly. Another trapper stepped forward and warned us, "And Drago don't take well to excuses."

'_Wow, their boss sounds like a ray of sunshine and inspiration…_' I thought as I saw the leader of the trappers pull down his shirt. My eye widened in horror once I saw the huge, symbol like scar on his chest. By the looks of it, the thing must've been applied with a branding iron…something that was guaranteed to hurt like high hell.

"This is what he gave me the last time I showed up empty-handed. He promised to be far less understanding in the future." He informed us as he straightened up. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him…Branded like a common bull by your master just because you messed up a bit…that's just awful.

The situation was getting tense. Hiccup could sense it and quickly began to devise a plan. "Alright, we don't know anything about a dragon thief or an ice-spitting dragon…" he began to say but I could already see the men on the ice spires pointing their crossbows at us.

I quietly gulped and locked my gaze on the lead trapper. He had a smug look on his face that I now wanted to wipe off.

"Or your lunatic boss and his dragon army, okay? Just give us back our dragon and we'll go, strange, hostile person whom we've never met." Hiccup concluded.

Still…the guy looked oddly familiar to me. Maybe Hiccup and Astrid have never met him…but maybe I have…Was that even possible?

That's when I looked down from the strange trapper's face…and saw the pin.

On the man's fur vest…was an old tarnished silver pin made to look like an owl-faced dragon.

My heart nearly stopped beating. It was the exact same one I gave…

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm _Eret_."

Holy Shields…

"_Son of Eret._"

Holy…Holy Shields…

"Finest Dragon Trapper alive."

Holy…Holy…_Holy Shields_…

"After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury." He was now pointing his sword at us. Toothless and Stryka looked like they were both ready to attack so I did the one thing I could only think of at that crucial moment.

And that was to say…

"_Eret?_"

You could've heard a pin drop for miles around after I said that one name. Hiccup and Astrid both looked at me like I had sprouted two heads. Toothless and Stryka curiously cocked their heads to the side. The dragon trappers looked confused while Eret kept his sword raised and pointed at me as I dared to walk to stand in front of him.

I ignored all the weird looks and stares as I gazed at the face of the one person I had yearned to see for the past 12 years. The brown eyes that reminded me of rich amber…those blue tribal tattoos I had seen get marked on his chin when he came of age at 12 back in our old home in the South…

His face had changed a little bit but I still recognized him. Why I couldn't earlier was either due to my anger or maybe my eyesight. And, oh gods, the pin…he had kept it all these years even long after it had lost its silver gleam…

But as I looked at him, I could tell that Eret didn't recognize me. I guess I had changed a lot ever since we said our good-byes…

But my love for him hadn't. If ever, it had become stronger.

"Twelve years…twelve years and you still wear it…" I whispered to him, gently touching the pin, hoping that maybe he might remember. Eret looked at me with a mix of suspicion and bewilderment. But when his gaze dropped to his mother's pendant, which was around my neck…

'_CLANG!_'

Just like that, the sword slipped out of his hand and I saw a flash of recognition in Eret's eyes as his facial expression turned into one of complete and utter shock.

'_A completely natural reaction when you're reunited with your childhood sweetheart after 12 long years…_' I thought as he gaped at me, speechless. Finally, he hesitatingly reached out his left hand to touch my face. I nearly melted as his strong hand cupped my right cheek. It had been so long yet his touch still took my breath away…

He had tears in his eyes as he stared at me, completely focused solely on my face. His thumb gently brushed against my cheek, making me sigh longingly as I leaned into his gentle touch. I closed my eye, wanting to savor this moment. In all honesty, the present situation we were currently in…not exactly a good time for a reunion.

But I didn't care. I was just so happy.

"…_Zenna?_"

I opened my eye once I heard Eret call my name. He still looked so shocked, so confused…

'_Don't be scared, Eret…It's me. I'm really here…_' I thought as I smiled at him. Eret then finally smiled that sweet, adorable smile I've missed so much. What I didn't realize was that we were leaning closer towards each other. My heart hammered in my chest.

_My second kiss was about to happen!_

What I also didn't realize…was that my friends decided to execute their escape the second Hiccup saw me and Eret about to kiss. Toothless and Stryka both fired plasma blasts at a large ice spike above us, causing me and Eret to spring away from each other. Hiccup then ran over to Stormfly and used Inferno to cut her free from the net.

"Stormfly, come on! Go! _Go!_" Astrid shouted as she led her away. Hiccup then grabbed my hand and began to pull me away from the scene.

"W-wait! Hiccup, wait, I can't-" I tried to protest but Hiccup had already gotten me on Stryka's back and we were already taking off and leaving!

"Stryka, no! You don't understand! I need to go back!" I yelped. But Stryka ignored me and kept flying. Suddenly I heard Eret's voice.

"Zenna! Zen! ZENNA!"

I looked behind me and I saw Eret running over to the edge of the ruins of the fort. When he couldn't go any further he looked up at me and Stryka as we flew farther away, a look of pure grief on his face.

Just when we were reunited at last, fate became cruel and decided to separate us once again…gods, my life sucked…

Just when we were about to get too far away, I forced Stryka to turn around. I knew I couldn't make her go back, but I had to tell Eret something important.

At the top of my voice, I yelled out the promise _he _had made me 12 years ago when we said good-bye to each other…

"I'll come find you! _Just wait for me!_"

Stryka let out a roar of distress before we finally flew away from the ruined fort. We both caught up to Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless and Stormfly in record time. Hiccup and Astrid were both giving me weird looks along with Toothless and Stormfly. Stryka was really worried too and warbled softly at me.

"I'm okay, girl…I'm okay…" I said softly, not really wanting to say anything. "Zenna, what was that all about? All of a sudden, you just happened to say that guy's name, go over to him and…" Astrid asked me, completely shocked at my behavior before Hiccup politely cut in.

Looking at me with serious emerald green eyes, Hiccup asked, "Zen, do you…_know him_?" I could hardly meet his gaze. "I don't wanna talk about it…" I said quietly. "Zen, we're serious. Did you know Eret before all of this?" Astrid asked me. "I said that I _D__on't. Wanna. Talk. About. It_!" I snapped at them angrily.

_That _shut the two of them up.

Still, I felt bad for just going off like that. It was just…argh! Everything was suddenly all so messed up! I just reunited with my childhood sweetheart, the love of my life, and realized that _he_ was a Dragon _Trapper_ while _I _was a Dragon _Rider_, got separated from him once again…

My life was now currently being thrown into chaos that was just so maddening that I felt like I was going to suffocate from it and explode!

Finally, I sighed in frustration and patted Stryka gently on the side of her head. "Back to Berk, Stryka. Full speed ahead." I told her. She obeyed…and we flew on ahead of our friends.

'_Just wait for me, Eret…But how long do I have to keep you waiting…?_' I thought guiltily as the two of us flew on ahead.

* * *

><p><strong>Eret's POV<strong>

'_I'll come find you! Just wait for me!_'

Zenna's words continued to ring in my head long after she and those two other Dragon Riders left. My men took one look at me, knew that it wasn't a good time to ask about what had happened, and quickly got to work readying the one ship we had that hadn't been destroyed for our next outing.

I had to sit down for a moment not from exhaustion, but from the shock I'd been feeling ever since I saw my mother's old pendant around Zenna's neck.

I just couldn't really believe that I had seen her again…

Twelve years…twelve long years full of longing and then, all of a sudden, she was there. I sighed as I remembered her face, which I had made sure to burn into my memory from the moment I recognized her during our tragically short reunion.

Gods, she was even more beautiful than I remembered…Her face had beauty that rivaled all the Valkyries in Valhalla…her long black hair, dark as the deepest night…

Then I remembered that she had only _one _breathtakingly bright violet eye. She was wearing a black leather eye patch on the right side of her face! Oh Odin, she was still too young to lose something so important to her body like that! What happened while we were apart?! Who could have been so savage enough to take her right eye?!

'_If Drago was the one who did it…Oh no…I seriously hope that it wasn't him!_' I thought worriedly. Then one of my men came over to me with a slightly hesitant look on his face.

"The ship's ready, sir. We sail at your command." He said quietly. I was at a crossroads.

Zenna told me to wait for her. And I know I didn't really say it out loud, but I told myself that I would. But then we had to return to Drago's camp, with a shipment of dragons which we had lost the night before. What was I supposed to do?

Do I stay here and wait for Zenna to come back? Or get back to business as usual for Drago?

Come to think of it…I just realized that Zenna and I had grown up to become completely polar opposites. I was a Dragon Trapper…She was a Dragon Rider, and of a Night Fury no less!

'_She actually rode that one-eyed Night Fury! And it was like the dragon was her friend! Odin's axe, what happened to Zenna…? I'm so confused!_' I thought, still reeling from shock.

That's when a sudden sense of panic seized me.

If she was a Dragon Rider and if Drago ever found out about her…

Oh, gods…

My hand automatically grasped the pin on my vest as I tried to keep myself from imagining the horrifying things Drago would do to Zenna if he ever got his hands on her.

And mind you, those things I tried to keep myself from imagining weren't pretty and were very much capable of giving somebody nightmares for all eternity.

I should know…I've experienced them…

And there was absolutely no way that I was going to let them happen to my dearest heart.

"We head out now. Get the men and we'll set sail." I said, putting on a brave face. My cohort nodded and went on ahead. I picked up my sword and set it back in its hilt. Then, hesitating slightly, I pulled out a small scrap of paper and a pencil. Scribbling down my message for Zenna, I left the note out in the open where I knew she would find it.

I trusted Zenna that she would try to come and find me…

I just hoped that she would understand that I didn't want her to…because I wanted to protect her…

**I specifically did not write an author's note because I had a feeling that you guys would want to get to the story real quick ;)**

**So what do you think? The double POVs surprised you guys, didn't they? I'm planning on applying that idea again in some other chapters so as to fill in the gaps within the story. Plus, I found it really interesting to write in both Zenna's and Eret's points of view. It really helps me bring out their relationship.**

**We have Hiccstrid, Stalka, Rufflout, Ruffret and lots of other shipping names in the HTTYD universe. Do you guys have an idea for Zenna and Eret's shipping name?**

**I've already come up with **_**"Zenret" **_**but if you guys have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them **

**Anyway, my next update on Riders and Defenders of Berk will be coming next weekend. I have to hurdle my Second Periodical Exams next week, so wish me luck!**

**GuardianDragon98, signing off!**


	4. The Truth Comes Out

**Prepare to have your minds blown…and feels obliterated XD**

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD, HTTYD2 and, basically, do NOT own anything.**

**Chapter 4: The Truth Comes Out**

**Zenna's POV**

It didn't take long for me and Stryka to reach Berk. Once we had landed, I made my way to my house where my parents were outside and feeding Serpent and Serpentine. Stryka warbled a greeting to my parents' Hideous Zippleback, who both warbled back. My parents looked at me and, upon seeing my frazzled look, quickly led me inside. I chose to sit down for a minute while Mom brewed some tea and Dad lit the fireplace. Normally I would have told them that there was no need to fuss, but I was still in too much shock to complain.

"What is it, love?" Dad asked me, concern evident in his eyes. "Hiccup, Astrid and I were out exploring. We found this fort stuck in ice. And there were _Dragon Trappers_." I began. "Trappers? Heading this way?" Mom asked worriedly. I shook my head. "No, Mom. They're not planning to head to Berk. It's just that their leader…" I managed to say before sighing heavily and looked at the fireplace.

It was a long moment of silence before I found the courage to speak again.

"Their leader was _Eret_, Mom and Dad. I saw Eret again. He's a Dragon Trapper now." I said at last. Mom was pouring me a cup of tea when I said that while Dad was stoking the fire in the hearth. Instantly they sharply looked at me in shock, tea spilling over and the embers popping.

"Eret, _Son of Eret_? Zenna, are you sure?" Mom asked in bewilderment. "He was wearing the pin I gave him, Mom. I know it was him." I nodded gravely. "Good gods…" Dad muttered, shaking his head. "Yeah…Good gods indeed…Oh Thor, I never should have stayed away from him for so long…I could've at least taken Stryka and gone looking for him myself…" I murmured guiltily to myself.

Maybe…if instead of waiting for Eret to come find me, I could have been the one to find _him_.

I could have taken him on a great flight on Stryka, like when Hiccup took Astrid on that romantic flight five years ago, and shown him how wonderful it is to have a bond with a dragon. And maybe he wouldn't have to work for this Drago Bludvist, whom I'm pretty sure is bad news, and come live on Berk with his father and be one of us.

'_Come to think of it…I didn't see Eret's dad with him…Wonder where he is…_' I mused. "It's not your fault he's gone astray, love." Mom soothed me. "I've known Eret and his father for years, Zen. I find it very hard to believe that the boy who swore on his life to protect you at all costs would stoop to this kind of low, but it looks like he's changed…_and not for the better_." Dad said grimly.

I believed Mom and I wanted to agree with Dad. But I still felt this gnawing sense of guilt within me. Circumstances such as my move to Berk could have given Eret little happiness. I knew even back then that he and his father were barely scraping by. I could have implored my parents to let them come with us so we could start new lives together. But I didn't, and that was the regret I had been regretting ever since I left the South.

Plus, Eret _had _sworn to protect me. Solemnly swearing on his own life, in fact! It was one of the many proofs he had shown me that he really loved me. And I, for one, refused to believe that he had chosen the wrong path. I couldn't just sit here wondering. I needed to find Eret again.

_I needed to know the truth_.

Standing up, I headed outside and got on Stryka. Serpent and Serpentine crooned at me curiously as my parents also joined me outside.

"What are you planning to do, my dear?" Mom asked me, putting a hand to her belly as the baby had started moving again. "I can't accept it, Mom. The whole idea of Eret being one of the bad guys, I mean. That's why I need to get the truth straight from the source." I answered seriously. "You're going to go out there and find him? What if he _is _one of the bad guys now and tries to take Stryka away from you?" Dad asked worriedly.

Stryka warbled at me and I gently patted her head. If Eret had changed…I would make sure that my love for Stryka, my draconian sister, will overpower my love for him. But that, was something I hoped that will not come to pass. I prayed to the gods that I'll be successful in changing Eret's mind before looking at my parents with a grave eye.

"I won't let it happen, Dad. And besides, I know Eret better than anyone. He'll _never_ betray me." I reassured my father before I urged Stryka up and we headed out.

What I didn't know was that Hiccup had the same idea of going after Eret and his crew…only _his _agenda was to go to Eret's boss and talk some sense into him. What I _also _didn't know was that he and Astrid were going to have to perform an act of mutiny in order to do that because Stoick had grounded all the dragons. Whatever the reason was, I'll find out later.

Right now, I had to get to Eret and fast.

Stryka and I went back to the fort. To my disappointment, it was deserted. Stryka sniffed the air before looking at me. I sighed and walked around the carnage. Nothing but splintered wood and damaged supplies, weapons and traps everywhere. Then, a lone scrap of paper caught my eye. Picking it up, I traced Eret's handwriting with my fingers.

'_**Even the mighty wolf has to turn tail and flee when the hunter gives chase. I'm sorry, Zenna…But please don't come looking for me anymore…**_

_**Eret**_'

I was stunned. Why would he not want me with him? I could help him! Holy Shields, this was beginning to frustrate me!

But still, I had to smile at the part of his message that had '_the mighty wolf_' in it. Back in our old home in the South, the wolves were considered as revered animals. We treated them with high respect. Eret and I respected them alright…and we even considered them as playmates.

(_Zen's flashback starts_)

'"It's alright, Zen. Come on, he won't bite." _11 year old Eret coaxed the now seven year old Zenna while he petted a large gray wolf. A pack of them was with the two children in the woods that day. Eret had decided to let Zenna in on a little secret-he had befriended the local wolf pack that hunted close to their village. In accordance to tribal law, this kind of secret was considered disrespectful as the wolves were supposed to be seen as sacred beings that should be respected from a distance and never treated like common housepets._

_But Eret was never really one to follow tribe laws that seriously…and neither was Zenna. But of course, the young Fiersome girl was wary and decided to stay a good three feet away from Eret and the wolf and hid behind a nearby shrub. And once she saw that the wolf Eret was currently playing with was the alpha male, she was ready to turn around and run with her metaphorical tail between her legs._

"Eret, that's the alpha male of the pack! What if he doesn't like me?" _Zenna squeaked nervously. _"Well if he doesn't I'm sure that his mate, the alpha _female_, will." _Eret chuckled, making Zenna all the more nervous and not to mention confused._

"How do you know the alpha female will like me?" _the seven year old girl asked. Eret smiled. _"She's right over there with you." _He replied casually._

_That's when Zenna realized that she had a companion with her in the shrub. The alpha female had been by her side all along!_

"Holy Shields…" _she squeaked, cautiously backing away. The alpha female trotted over to her, tail held up proud and high. If Zenna hadn't been so jittery, she would've thought the alpha female as a regal wolf queen._

"Uh…N-nice wolf…G-g-good Alpha Female Wolf…" _the Fiersome girl stuttered as she warily held out her hand. Then, to her surprise and Eret's delight, the alpha female nosed her muzzle into Zenna's palm in kind greeting and sat at her feet. Zenna then stood still, amazed, before sitting on the dirt. This allowed the wolf to plop her furry head onto her lap and whine, asking to be petted._

"See, Zen? What'd I tell you? She likes you!" _Eret laughed, leading the alpha male to his mate. Zenna now giggled as she gently petted the alpha female, enjoying the feeling of the soft, fluffy fur as she bonded with her new playmate. The alpha male along with Eret followed and, soon, the whole pack was with them. Both Eret and Zenna had a great time playing with the wolves. The alpha male even let Zenna get on his silver furred back and loped about the thicket, the young Fiersome girl shrieking with delight._

"Eret, how did you make friends with them? Was it magic?" _Zenna inquired curiously as she cuddled one of the pups. _"Nope. Just kindness, Zenna. As long as you have a kind heart, you can make friends with anyone." _Eret had told her, while wrestling with one of the juveniles._

_Zenna took Eret's words to heart that same day. As long as she was kind, she could befriend anyone…just how Eret had taught her…_'

(_Zen's flashback ends_)

I sighed deeply and got on Stryka's back once more. That's when Stryka did one of the things she rarely did-talk.

"_Awre wree stwill goowiingg two lwook fwor thwattt Errrwwreett peewwrrssoonn, Zzen?_" she asked me. Needless to say, I was surprised to hear Stryka once again speak in human language. The only times she did that was when she really needed to say something to me.

I guess today was one of those times.

"We are, girl. And we're not going to stop until we find him." I replied as we took to the skies to begin our search. "_I dwon't gwet it, Zzennnaa. He'sss a baadd gwuyy. Wwwhhyyy dwo ywou waaannnaaa gwo fiinnddd him…?_" Stryka asked me as we flew about. "It's…It's kind of hard to explain, Stryka…Eret's actually…a really important someone." I said haltingly.

"_You love him?_"

_That _perfectly pronounced sentence that came out of Stryka's mouth nearly made me fall off the saddle. I looked at her in shock and awe before composing myself. Stryka looked up at me with her one good eye, a curious toothless smile on her face. I had to smile at my beloved dragoness' intuition.

"Yes, I love Eret. He's my one true love, Stryka. And I have to find him again…_I just have to_…" I whispered.

Stryka didn't say anything else, and we continued our search in silence.

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><p><strong>Eret's POV<strong>

"Keep your eyes peeled, lads! At this wind we'll reach Drago by daybreak. So best we fill this ship up with dragons and quick." I shouted to my men as I stood on the stern. To my relief, Zenna hadn't come flying out of nowhere on her Night Fury yet so there was still a chance that I could keep Drago from finding out about her…

'_As long as we stay course, she won't be able to find us_…' I thought as I carried on with, "There's no time to be picky…" before hearing one of my men say, "Ah, Eret…" I ignored him and continued, "Not if we want to keep our…"

That's when I heard the familiar sound of dragon wings flapping. Looking up, I saw the Deadly Nadder and male Night Fury from earlier! "HEADS! Off the port quarter!" I yelled. My men immediately scrambled to prep the net launchers.

"That's it, lads! Take 'em down!" I told them as I readied my own. I focused on the Night Fury that was being ridden on by that fire sword-wielding amputee.

"You're not getting away this time." I muttered before giving the command.

"_Fire!_"

Nets were launched in all directions! But much to my annoyance, not a single dragon caught. Then, just when I thought we were going to have to reload, the dragons and their Riders landed on deck.

"And here I was worried we might turn up empty handed." I sneered, pointing my sword at the Night Fury Rider. Oddly enough, he didn't look the least bit afraid. "Nope. It's your lucky day." He replied before putting his hands up declaring, "We give up."

I had to admit, this guy was courageous…and also strange.

"That's one Night Fury, one Deadly Nadder and two of the finest Dragon Riders west of luk tuk. That'll make the boss happy, right? Excuse us." As he said this, he and the Nadder Rider got off their dragons, took the Nadder Riders battle axe away, put a net on her and, then, escorted her and himself to below deck while making sure to shut the hatch behind him. "What are you doing?" the Nadder Rider asked him in shock.

Yep, this lad had officially lost his marbles.

I just watched in shock as the Night Fury tried to join his Rider. "Ah, Toothless stay." The boy told him, as if the beast were a mere friendly hound.

'_Toothless? That Night Fury has some of the sharpest teeth in the entire dragon world! Could this day get even weirder?_' I thought to myself. First Zenna, now this!

"The dragons don't really care for cramped spaces so they'll just hang out with you, they won't be any trouble." The boy told me, just as the men pulled out their swords.

Almost instantly, that Night Fury jumped up in surprise like a cat and promptly snarled at us, showing us two sets of perfectly knife-like teeth!

"Unless you do _that_." The boy added. I had to agree with him on this one, though. My crew? Not exactly the best compared to the rest of Drago's fleet.

The boy kept talking even though we weren't so interested. "You know, wooden boat, big ocean. H-How is your swimming?" he asked us. "Not good." Another one of my men admitted sheepishly.

See what I mean?

Suddenly the fire sword poked out of the opening! I had to admit, it was rather impressive. I even found myself wondering if Zenna had one…

"Oops, almost forgot, can't have armed prisoners." The boy popped up, still looking as calm as ever. I heard the axe girl whisper, "How is this a plan?" to him. I made sure to keep my eye on that boy. For all I knew, he was just putting on this little show to trick us…

"Just what every dragon trapper needs. One end coats the blade with Monstrous Nightmare saliva, the other sprays Hideous Zippleback gas." He informed us, ducking down as one of my men hit the switch to release the _highly explosive _Zippleback gas. Luckily I managed to flee the blast zone while the boy said, "All it takes is a spark and…"

Thank gods I didn't get caught in the explosion. My men? Eh, not so much.

What really got my attention was how playful the boy's Night Fury was. It was even batting away at the embers like an innocent kitten! Was that how Zenna's Night Fury acted like as well?

"Oh yeah, there you go. Once they see you as one of their own even the testiest dragon can be trained, right bud?" the boy said innocently.

Finally I lost my patience, said, "Gimme that." and snatched the contraption away from my men before hurling it off the ship. And to my surprise, the Nadder flew after it and retrieved it. To the dragon, I was playing a game of fetch with it!

"What game are you playing?" I asked the boy, all the more suspicious. "No game, we just want to meet Drago." He replied simply. "Why?" I had to be honest, I never thought I'd meet someone who would actually _want _to meet Drago.

"Because I'm going to change his mind about dragons."

Well that got me and my crew laughing. Was this lad actually serious?!

"He can be really persuasive." The girl Rider then stood next to him supportively. Patting the Night Fury, the boy told me, "Once you've earned his loyalty, there is nothing a dragon won't do for you."

"Pfft, you won't be changing any minds around here." I told him as-a-matter-of-factly. "I can change yours, right here, right now." The boy said as he pushed on some sort of lever and the Night Fury's red tail fin opened. That's when I realized that both Zenna's Night Fury and the boy's had lost important body parts…along with their Riders.

In this case, both the boy and the male dragon were missing once crucial part to help with their mobility.

In Zenna and _her _dragon's case, they were both missing their right eyes.

Then another thought entered my head.

'_Had Zenna found somebody else? Was this one legged boy her boyfriend?_'

I cast those thoughts aside and decided to test him. And what better way than a little showdown right here on my ship?

"Well seeing as Drago won't care if I give him to you dead or alive, I'll give you as long as it takes to remove that noisy, oversized head of yours. How's that?" I said casually as I waved my sword about, turning away from him.

"Fair enough." The boy said as I turned to look at him. Then I saw him look at the girl and ask, "Is my head really oversized?" to which the girl replied, "Your hair is."

Ha! I had to admit that that was funny!

"Hahaha, hilarious." The boy said sarcastically before facing me again. "So, you trap dragons and ship them north? To Drago?" he asked me. "Except when they're stolen by you!" I said sharply as I leaped onto the side of the ship to come at him from above! But the lad was a fast one. He cut some ropes holding some barrels in place and I found myself struggling to keep my balance!

"Right! By my good friend the Dragon Thief and his ice-spitting buddy." My opponent stated. "Your days of rescuing dragons are over. Drago has found the ice-spitter's cave!" I grunted as I tried to take a swing at his head. He ducked, much to my frustration.

"Soon, all of your dragons will be claimed for his army." I warned the boy as I continued my attacks. "Ah, the Dragon Army. How exactly did he pull that off? I mean dragons aren't really the easiest to train." He pointed out as I kicked the barrel off and glared at him.

"Even dragons know better than to cross Drago Bludvist." I said harshly as I grabbed him by the front of his armor. "Is this part of changing my mind?" I decided to ask. "That part's coming." The boy replied, loosening one of the pulleys used to hold up the sails and grabbed onto the rope and rode it up to the mast!

"Rope burn!" he shouted as he went up.

As much as I found that guy obnoxious, he was a rather worthy opponent.

"Come now, Drago's about to take over the world! You're either with him or against him!" I called up to him, climbing up as well. When I finally got up there, I readied my sword. "And the way I see it, against is a losing proposition." I told the boy as I backed him up to the very edge.

"Any last words to change my mind?" I asked coldly, ready to swing my blade. "Actually, yes. And it's more of a question actually…" the boy said before looking at me with a serious expression.

"_Do you know Zenna?_"

I nearly lost my balance and fell off the mast when he asked that.

"Because from the way she was behaving when we encountered you and your crew, it looked like that you two have a history. What kind of history that is, I'd like to know." He said, standing up to see eye-to-eye with me. I was so busy debating whether to answer him or not, that I didn't see him take out his knife and sever the rope holding the mast down.

We were instantly catapulted right off the ship!

"YOU IDIOT!" I yelled at the boy, who looked like was enjoying this moment of terror.

Strange, lost his marbles, a worthy opponent…might as well add _completely insane_ to the list of things I could use to describe him!

That's when I also heard Zenna's voice accompanied by the shriek of a Night Fury.

"ERET!"

I managed to spin myself about and caught a glimpse of her speeding towards me on her dragon, a look of pure shock on her face. That was also the same time, I think, when the other Night Fury came flying up out of nowhere and grabbed me. I saw the boy on its back and he pulled a lever, opening the tail fin and pulled up.

And it was a good thing it did because I was close to hitting those rocks earlier!

But to add to my misery, the boy and his Night Fury both decided to take me on a joyride. "Make it stop! Make it stop! Someone make it stop!" I shouted, not really caring to enjoy the thrill of being airborne and desperately praying to the gods for mercy.

Zenna and her Night Fury finally reached us and flew alongside. "Hold on!" the boy smiled as his Night Fury went for a dive! "Hiccup, he's had enough!" Zenna yelled, frantic.

Even if I was terrified, I found myself thinking, '_What kind of a name is HICCUP?_' before I got dropped off. Still stunned from that near-death experience, I watched Zenna and her dragon land. And mind you, I had never seen Zenna so angry.

The boy, who I now knew as _Hiccup_, had just finished praising his own dragon when Zenna marched up to him and bonked him hard on the head with one of the sticks she carried.

"Ow! What? I was just trying to get him to see what you and I see!" Hiccup flinched. "By _traumatizing _him, Hiccup?! Really?! And how in Odin's name did you two get airborne earlier?! What? You two got catapulted or something?!" Zenna shrieked at him.

I watched as the two of them had a really loud conversation, my men also watching as words flew back and forth.

"Actually, yeah. We were having a little talk up on the mast of his ship."

"The mast of his…! Wait, were you two _fighting_?!"

"Well, he started it! I was just trying to convince him that our dragons are friends!"

"You couldn't have just waited for me? _I _can talk to Eret without having things escalating into a showdown!"

"Astrid and I _would _have waited, but then we found out from your parents that _you _went on ahead to go find him! And really, Zen, what is going on with you? It's like you two know each other!"

Finally Zenna all but screamed, "That's because we _do _know each other!"

I swear everyone had their eyes locked on me and Zenna once she blurted that out. I glanced at Zenna and she caught my eye. She reached into her pocket and pulled out my note.

"While the wolf flees, the hunter continues the chase and is relentless in pursuit…" she began quoting an old saying from our old home. "…so the wolf has a choice: keep its tail between its legs and keep on running…or face the hunter, claws sharp, fangs bared and ready to fight till the end." I finished for her.

In the South, members of the Wolf Pack Army were taught to be as fierce as wolves. Aside from giving respect to our enemies before we delivered the death blow, we were taught that we could either run away from our enemies when they overpower us…or keep on fighting until our last breath.

I'd been gone from the South for a long time and I never forgot our code…and neither did Zenna.

"That's pretty poetic. Where'd you two learn that?" the blonde girl asked, stepping forward. "It's a part of the South's fight code of honor." I informed her. "Where Eret and I are originally from." Zenna added, looking at me with a small smile.

Then she looked at Hiccup, the dragons, the girl before finally looking at me.

"Astrid, you and our friends were always curious as to _why _I never had any relationships with any of the boys back on Berk, right?" She directed her question to the blond axe wielder. The girl, Astrid, looked surprised but nodded.

"Well…now you know why. It's because I had _already_ found someone long before I came to Berk." Zenna sighed before finally doing the formal introductions.

"Eret, these are my friends Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Astrid Hofferson, our dragon friends Toothless, Stormfly and Stryka. Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, Stryka and Stormfly, this is Eret, Son of Eret…_my childhood sweetheart_."

**You may now hurl your deadly reviews at me.**

**I'm so sorry for leaving you guys on such a huge suspenseful cliffhanger, but I really couldn't help myself XD**

**I decided to add in a deleted scene from HTTYD 2 because I thought it would make things more interesting. Plus, I wanted to give Eret a little more credibility. Over the next few chapters, I'll make sure to switch from Zenna's POV to Eret's POV to keep things going and in order to avoid any missing parts. I won't always have double POVs but, anyway…I hope you guys liked this update ;)**

**And don't worry, my Riders and Defenders of Berk story shall continue. Dragon Flower will be posted on Sunday night, I promise ;)**

**G2G!**

**-GuardianDragon98**


	5. Shattered Hearts

**I am so sorry if this chapter seems kind of lame…and if it is going to break your heart a little.**

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD 2.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Shattered Hearts<strong>

**Zenna's POV**

My little confession must have been equivalent to setting off an explosive, because Hiccup was gaping at me like I had gone insane. Astrid mirrored his reaction while Toothless, Stryka and Stormfly warbled in confusion. I glanced at Eret who looked just as uncomfortable as I was before looking at Hiccup again.

"Yeah…It-it's kind of a long story…" I managed to say before the both of us were suddenly snatched right off the ship! Hiccup and I both screamed in shock but then realized that we had been snatched by Hookfang! Why would he and Snotlout do such a thing, I have no idea. Toothless and Stryka had managed to leap onto the ship's mast and were now watching us from below.

In the meantime, Hiccup chose that moment to have a mid-flight conversation with me about my love life. As if that was the issue right now!

"Zen, are you telling me that all these years, you had a BOYFRIEND and you never told me about it?! Or the fact that your boyfriend is a DRAGON TRAPPER?!" Hiccup all but yelled at me. Honestly, I didn't understand why he was so freaked out. I tried to stay calm as I explained. But to tell you the truth, it wasn't easy because I had gotten mad at him earlier for his recklessness.

"Technically he wasn't a dragon trapper when we were kids. And like I said, he's my _CHILDHOOD. SWEETHEART. _That was the more appropriate term to use because we were still kids at the time." I told him, emphasizing the words '_childhood_' and '_sweetheart_' as firmly as I could.

Hiccup still looked pretty shocked. "How…Just how old were you guys when you two fell in love anyway?" he asked me. Well _that _made me clam up for about two seconds. But I managed to say, "…I was _4 _and he was _9_…" my cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

Yeah, Eret and I have a 5 year age gap. And we fell in love when we were _that _young. It's kind of…unusual to some but for me and Eret, it wasn't.

But to Hiccup, it was both unusual and alarming.

"What?! He's five years older than you!" he exclaimed, flabbergasted. "Age is just a number, Hiccup! And besides I'm 21 now. You do remember that I'm older than you by a few months, right?" I reminded him. I was beginning to get annoyed. Honestly Hiccup was acting so overprotective!

"Still doesn't change the fact that he's a DRAGON TRAPPER, Zenna!" Hiccup told me, looking just as annoyed as me. "Sheesh, since when did you start getting so overprotective of me?" I scoffed at him. But then again, it might not have been such an appropriate question to ask. Hiccup has always been protective of me. And his protectiveness of me was strengthened even more when Elias had died.

"You know, saying it like that, you make me sound like Elias when he goes into '_overprotective brother mode_'." Hiccup told me in a scolding manner. "Which is pretty much true at the moment in your case." I retorted. "Either way, you _still _haven't answered my question on why you never told me that you had a _boyfriend_." He said emphatically. "CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART!" I pretty much yelled out in exasperation.

What part of those two words did he not understand?!

"Whatever! I just wanna know why you never told me about him!" Hiccup shouted back at me. "I'll explain later. Now, Snotlout, you and Hookfang better put us down unless you both know what's good for you!" I shouted, directing my last sentence to the pompous Jorgenson sitting astride on his Monstrous Nightmare.

Snotlout plainly ignored us since he was so busy trying to impress Ruffnut. "See how well I protect and provide?" he asked Ruffnut cheerfully. Ruffnut just made a face. '_I am seriously going to have to tell Snotlout that Ruffnut has zero interest when this is over…and also give him a good beating._' I thought as I watched the Twins dodge nets on Barf and Belch.

"Agh! What's with all the nets?!" Tuffnut muttered frustratingly as they dodged nets launched from Eret's ship left and right. "Hey, watch it! That was…_close_…" Ruffnut managed to say before her face went all goofy. Confused, I studied her face. It looked like she had gotten a serious case of the lovebug…

"Oh _my_…" she swooned. I followed her gaze down to Eret, who was preparing to launch a net at her and her brother.

"_Me likey._"

You might as well have mistaken me for an angry mother dragon because I was _livid_.

'_Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no you __don't__, Ruffnut Thorston! Eret is MINE!_' I thought furiously as Ruffnut said, "Take me!" and threw her arms open to embrace the net Eret had launched. I pitied poor Tuffnut, who was looking at his sister like she was crazy.

"Okay, that's it, I've had enough." I muttered as I pushed myself off of Hookfang, Hiccup following me and we both activated our flight suits. I saw Eret's crew about to fire a bunch of nets at us but he and Astrid quickly yelled, "_Hold your fire!_"

'_He still cares about me!_' I thought, feeling giddy as Hiccup and I glided through the air. Hiccup grabbed hold of the rope and slid down the sail while I accidentally (_no actually, deliberately_) angled myself the wrong way and crashed right into Eret, both of us yelping in surprise as we collided.

Good thing Eret had really grown and we both weren't injured.

"Thanks for breaking my fall…" I smiled shyly at him. Eret, dazed as he was, managed me a small grin. "D-don't mention it…" he stuttered adorably.

As crazy as this whole thing was, I found myself _giggling_ like a love struck little girl!

I must have been on top of Eret for quite a bit, because Hiccup suddenly heaved me to my feet and firmly planted himself between me and Eret. '_Holy Shields, Hiccup, really?!_' I thought in annoyance while Eret looked at me and my best human friend in suspicion.

"Hicc, relax." I told Hiccup, pulling him away from Eret.

Thankfully, he shifted his attention to Snotlout and the rest of the gang who had arrived.

"Ah, what are you guys doing here?" he asked our friends just as Gobber arrived on Grump, his Hotburple. "We are here to rescue you!" our two-limbed blacksmith friend told us. "Zenna and I don't need to be rescued!" Hiccup said in protest.

"_Enough!_"

My heart nearly skipped a beat as Stoick landed on the ship on Skullcrusher, his Rumblehorn, along with…my parents.

"Well, didn't you just pick the wrong ship eh? I am Eret, son of—" Eret began to introduce himself before Stoick promptly shoved him out of the way. I winced as Gobber then clonked him on the head with his hammer hand and made Grump sit on him.

"Get…this thing…off me…!" Eret wheezed. "It's been a long time, Eret." Dad greeted him curtly. "Sorry, lad, but it's for your own good." Mom told him, stroking Serpentine's head. I saw Eret's jaw drop in shock. "Mr. and Mrs. Fiersome? What the hell is going on…?" he muttered in shock.

"Anyone else?" Gobber inquired to the other men, who all backed off upon seeing the rather large party of Dragon Riders surrounding the ship. "Hmm, that's what I figured." Gobber smirked.

On the other hand, Eret gave me a look that clearly said, '_What is going on and what have you not told me?_' that made me feel so guilty. Maybe I should explain to Eret already…

I was about to go over to him when Stoick looked at me and Hiccup, a rather miffed expression on his face.

"You two, saddle up. We're going home." He told us sternly. While Hiccup and I had different reasons to refuse, we both said, "_No._"

Stoick glared at Hiccup. "Of all the irresponsible-" he muttered through gritted teeth when Hiccup interrupted. "I'm trying to protect our dragons with Zenna and stop a war! _How _is that irresponsible?" he fired back at his father. I found myself blushing a bit. Did Hiccup really have to include me in whatever thing he and his Dad were arguing about? Then again, he and I both do whatever it takes to protect the dragons.

But as I looked at Eret, I could tell that he was beginning to suspect that Hiccup and I were possibly romantically connected. And, really, we're not!

I was about to tell Hiccup to knock it off when Stoick yelled, "_Because war is what he wants, son!_"

Wait, _war?! _A real war?! Holy Shields, what was going on?!

I looked to my parents for answers. Dad gave me a look that told me to listen to what the Chief had to say.

I saw Stoick heave a great sigh. I had a feeling that this was serious.

"Years ago, there was a great gathering of chieftains to discuss the dragon scourge we all faced. Into our midst, came a stranger from a strange land. Covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon skin…" Stoick began.

"_Drago Bludvist…?_" I whispered to Mom, who shrugged. I guess she and Dad didn't know about this guy either…but why did they follow me out here? I worriedly placed a gentle hand on Mom's tummy. The baby instantly kicked, but then calmed down. I hoped that my little sibling was alright…

Stoick continued. "He carried no weapon and spoke softly, saying that he, _Drago Bludvist_, was a man of the people. Devoted to freeing mankind from the tyranny of dragons. He claimed that he alone could control the dragons and he alone could keep us safe if…we chose to bow down and follow him." He told us.

That part made most of us laugh. I even smiled to myself and rolled my eye. Whatever Drago was thinking, it was absurd. _Nobody _could ever control a dragon, unless it trusted you well enough to let you. "Stupid." "Ah, good one." Ruffnut and Tuffnut both jeered.

Stoick's face, however, remained grave. "Aye we laughed too, until he wrapped himself in his cloak and cried, '_**Then see how well you do without me!**_'." He said grimly.

I could imagine Drago storming out of the hall like that. But I could have never expected what happened next…

"The whole rooftop suddenly burst into flames and from it, _armored dragons_ descended from it, burning the hall to the ground."

At those words, I gasped in horror. Branding Eret and, now, incinerating a hall full of Chiefs? How ruthless was this Drago Bludvist man?

"I…was the only one to escape." Stoick concluded sadly. Everyone was silent as a sign of respect to the fallen. I found myself looking at Eret. He looked pretty troubled. I wonder if he had been there when Drago committed that terrible act of murder.

Stoick then looked at Hiccup. "Men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with." He told him seriously. Hiccup kept a firm stance. "Maybe." He said and went to Toothless.

"Hiccup!" Stoick grumbled crossly. "I'm still going to try." Hiccup said, catching Eret's attention. I saw him look at my one-legged best human friend in awe of his courage.

Once he was on Toothless, Hiccup looked at his Dad. "This is what I'm good at, and if I can change _your _mind I can change his too." He told him.

"Wa-wait a second, Hicc. Are you telling me that you're going to try talking some sense into Drago?" I asked him worriedly. "Yeah I am, Zen. It's your choice if you want to come with me. Unless…" Hiccup replied, before looking at Eret with disgust.

Oh, here we go…

"Hiccup, don't look at him like that. I know Eret. I'm coming with you but first…_let me talk to him_." I said carefully. I approached Eret and then saw that Ruffnut was next to him, ogling at him! "_Ruffnut!_" I snapped at her, pulling the amorous female Thorston away from my childhood sweetheart.

Getting down to his eye level, I gazed at Eret. "Hey…" I said quietly. Upon hearing my greeting, Eret looked at me. "Hi…" he said softly. "You know, I think this Drago guy's bad news. And if you're scared of him, my friends and I can help you. We can work together to stop him and his crazy scheme. All you have to do is give us directions to wherever he's at." I told him gently. At my offer, Eret tensed up. "I can't, Zen…I just can't…" he mumbled.

"Why not, Eret?" Mom stepped forward. "If what Stoick has said is true, then it might not be wise to associate with Drago, Zenna…including his followers." Dad told me, glaring at Eret. I ignored them and locked eyes with Eret. He looked like he had been backed up into a corner and was desperate to get out of this.

"Please, Eret…I can help you." I said gently. He shook his head and looked at Stryka, who growled a warning. "First you, then your parents…what about Elias? I don't suppose _he _has a dragon of his own too?" Eret asked me.

At that question, I became silent. Oh Thor, how was I going to explain to Eret that Eli was…

"Zen's older brother? He died in a dragon raid about eight years ago." Snotlout piped up. I flinched slightly when Eret looked at me in shock. "_What?_" he asked me, eyes wide.

"That was _before _the war between Berk and the dragons ended…But…but now, everyone on Berk has dragons of their own. And…it's all thanks to me and Hiccup." I admitted. But now, Eret looked upset with me. He glared at Stryka before harshly looking at me. "So you're telling me that you befriended the very _monsters _that killed Elias?" he asked coldly.

My anger flared up as I told him, "Stryka is _not _a monster! She's my best dragon friend! My sister not by blood but by bond! And I will not tolerate anyone who speaks ill of her! Including you, Eret! Now, tell me at once where Drago Bludvist is hiding!" my one violet eye flashing in rage.

All at once, Eret's cold expression shifted into a worried and scared one. And, also at the same time, he avoided my gaze. My anger was quickly replaced by guilt. I didn't mean to get all harsh, really…

"I-I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…" I trailed off once I saw that Eret was refusing to look at me. My emotional state was in a precarious situation. All the shock, anger, confusion was threatening to spill out of me in the form of tears. Close to losing it, I managed to say in a steady tone, "Twelve years…Twelve whole years, Eret…I waited for you…I waited for you to come and find me…But in the end…it was _I _who found _you_…"

Eret still refused to even so much as look at me. My throat began to feel tight as I felt tears well up in my eye. Mom and Dad were beginning to get worried, so were Hiccup and all the others.

"Eret, please…I promise I won't judge you for who you've become. I promise that I'll stay and that I'll help you." I began to plead. He still refused to meet my gaze.

My voice cracked as I whispered, "Just please…_say something_."

Complete and utter silence was what I got…

And just like that…my heart shattered into a million pieces…

Tears streaming down my face, I got up and raced over to Stryka. I ignored my Mom and Dad's pleas as I nudged Stryka upwards. "Zen, wait!" Hiccup shouted, going after me. We both left the ship and flew off to wherever the winds would take us.

I ignored Hiccup's worried voice as he tried to comfort me, Toothless and Stryka's worried croons. My heart was broken and I wasn't sure if it would ever be mended again. I just couldn't believe that it had actually happened…

Eret wouldn't even look at me or even say anything…

His silence could have only meant one thing…

…_That he didn't love me anymore_…

Twelve long years of waiting gone to waste…Was it really all for nothing?

Finally I couldn't take it anymore and buried my face in Stryka's warm black scales, muffling my sobs as I cried. I didn't care about Drago Bludvist, the danger of just running off like this with Hiccup to Thor knows where at the moment.

All I cared about now…was that I just wanted to get away from the blasted ship and away from the man…who had once been the boy that I loved with all my heart…

**I just wanted to get away…I just wanted to get away…I JUST WANTED TO GET AWAY!**

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><p><strong>Eret's POV<strong>

I looked back in time to see Zenna take off on her Night Fury, tears streaming down her face. "Zen, wait!" Hiccup shouted and then looked back at me. I inwardly cringed as he glared at me with those angry green eyes of his. Without another word, he also got on his dragon and flew off. I saw Astrid then get on her Nadder.

"Let's go." Just as she was about to take off, the Chief stopped her. "No! Lead the others back to Berk, I've had enough mutiny for one day." He said gruffly before looking at me. "You disgust me." He growled. I could only look down in shame. I knew he was right…

That's when Zenna's father pulled me out from under the Hotburple and readied his fist! Gulping, I closed my eyes and braced myself for the pain.

"Edgar, stop!"

I opened my eyes and saw Zenna's mother holding Edgar back. But even she looked mad as she said, "He's not worth it."

Edgar then dropped me against the side of the ship. I woozily shook my head, seeing stars. Once I got my vision to refocus, all I saw was Zenna's parents and the Berkians looking at me with disgust. I could practically feel the guilt clawing at my insides. "E-Edgar, Henna, I-I…" I stammered out stupidly. "Save it, Eret! You've done enough damage here!" Henna snapped at me. Edgar looked at me with an enraged expression on his face but I could see the tremendous hurt in his eyes.

"My daughter _LOVED_ you! She loved no one else!" Edgar yelled at me, making me flinch.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

"Zenna gave you her whole heart, Eret! And what did you do with it?! _You broke my sweet little girl's heart!_"

You might as well have stuck a dagger into my chest because that really, _really _hurt. And the worst part is…was that it was all true.

Zenna's parents then left along with the others. But Astrid stayed behind long enough to give me another harsh glare. "I don't know what Zenna saw in you back then, but I hope you're happy with yourself because you just broke her heart." She spat out venomously.

Oh, I was feeling the exact opposite of happy right now for sure…

Once all the Riders had left, I stood up and retreated below deck. I leaned heavily against the wall, trying to calm myself down. Glancing down at the pin Zenna had given me, I felt all the guilt and heartache threatening to consume me. How could I have been so stupid?! She was just trying to help, and I pushed her away! Why didn't I say something?!

At that moment, I chose to recall the day Zenna and I had said our goodbyes…as well as the promise I made to her…

_(Eret's flashback starts)_

'_Thirteen year old Eret stood at the very edge of the dock, watching as the ship carrying his childhood sweetheart and her family away to their new home sailed away. Eret could make out Zenna's petite form standing at the very back, waving at him as she and her family sailed away…_

_Suddenly Eret felt the need to promise her something. At the top of his lungs he yelled, _"I'll come find you! Just wait for me! I promise, Zenna! I'll come find you again!" _just as the ship disappeared from his view._

_Then Zenna's small, sweet voice reached him across the waves._

"I will, Eret! I'll wait for you! I'll wait for you forever!"

_And even if Eret couldn't see Zenna anymore, he knew that she was still waving goodbye to him…_

_(Eret's flashback ends)_

I broke my promise to Zenna…

She had waited for me for so long…

And I never came to find her…

I took the pin off my vest and stared at it. Finally the tears that had been threatening to spill out of my eyes came streaming down my face and dropped onto the pin.

'_I'm so sorry, Zen…I'm so sorry…_' I thought as I sank to the floor, stifling my sobs as I cried.

…**What have I done…?**

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><p><strong>I hope this satisfies your cravings. Next chapter will come around next week. See u ;)<strong>

**-GuardianDragon98**


	6. Kidnapped By The Dragon Thief

**Hi guys ;)**

**Sem break's going to end next week so I decided to get a head start in adding more chapters to this story. And trust me, this chapter is going to give you guys quite a shock. Enjoy!**

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD 2 or the entire Dragons franchise. All rights go to DreamWorks Animation and respective owners.**

**Chapter 6: Kidnapped By The Dragon Thief**

By the time I had stopped crying, Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I were already high up in the clouds. I let the cold wind dry whatever tears I had left on my face as I reclined on Stryka's back so I was lying down on the saddle. I just really didn't know what exactly to do now. Everything had just happened so fast…

"AAAHHHH!"

Great, Hiccup was screaming now. Can this day get any worse?

"I'd scream too, Hicc, but I'm too exhausted." I groaned, not really sure on what to do anymore. Man, if someone had told me that heartbreak was going to be _this_ painful I probably wouldn't have fallen in love with Eret in the first place!

'_Okay, starting from now on, you shall never even __think__ about his name! Erase him from your memory, Zen! Erase him!_' I thought to myself.

Now Hiccup was promising Toothless something. I leaned in closer to listen. "Don't worry, bud. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. _I promise._" I heard him say and I smiled. Those two were friends to the end. And the same thing applied to me and Stryka, who now warbled softly at me. "I'm okay, girl. And I promise that I'll protect you against anything. I won't let anything bad happen to you, Stryka. _I _promise." I promised to her, gently patting her side. Hiccup was also lying on his dragon's back so we could lock eyes with each other.

"Are you alright, Zen?" he asked worriedly. "A little better compared to earlier, Hicc." I shrugged. "You want us to turn back and give that no-good Eret what he deserves?" he suggested innocently but I could see the glint of mischief in Hiccup's eyes and he was reaching for Inferno. "No, Hiccup. The last thing I wanna see right now is _him._ In fact, if you say his name again I am going to use my sticks on you, _burning part included_." I warned him, closing my eye.

Hiccup didn't say anything after that and we continued to fly on in silence. Suddenly I heard the sound of something solid cutting through the clouds and opened my eye. To my surprise, I saw a weird dragon-like mask poking out of the clouds! I bolted upright on the saddle in shock. Hiccup by then had also sensed the masked stranger's presence.

"Oh come on, Dad, _really?_" he groaned, sitting up before realizing that it wasn't his father who was with the four of us. Hiccup and I just both stared as the masked stranger just stood there, moving through the clouds with us. I couldn't even make out if the stranger was riding on a dragon because of all the clouds! Then, quick as he had come, the stranger made a simple hand gesture and disappeared into the clouds.

"Who…or _what_…was _that_?" I whispered to Hiccup uneasily. Hiccup shrugged and turned to Toothless. "Okay, no sudden moves." He carefully instructed. "Keep a sharp eye, Stryka." I instructed my one-eyed best dragon friend.

That's when the stranger reappeared…on the back of a four-winged dragon!

Hiccup and I could hardly believe our eyes as the masked stranger merely stood on the four-winged dragon, which was practically twice Toothless and Stryka's size! As unusual and shocking this encounter was, I found myself muttering, "Holy Shields…A four-winger…"

"Hold on, hold on…!" Hiccup mumbled nervously as the four of us faced-off with the masked stranger and the four-winger.

Suddenly Hiccup and I were snatched off of our dragons' backs by other dragons! We both panicked once we saw that Toothless, who was now without control over his tail fin, began to plummet towards the ocean!

"_Toothleeesss!_" Hiccup screamed in horror as his best friend fell out of the sky. Quickly I yelled, "Stryka, go help him! _Hurry!_" to my best dragon friend. Obeying my command, Stryka dove after her dear mate. But even I couldn't stop myself from screaming out in horror, "_Nooo!_" when I saw her and Toothless hit the ice hard!

Before we could even see if our dragons had survived, we were carried off with a large mass of dragons following our kidnapper-the masked stranger!

"Let us go! Let us go! Let us go! So help me Odin, I will bash your skull into smithereens if you don't let us go!" I yelled, kicking my legs like crazy while Hiccup could only flail his about whilst unable to speak due to the intense shock.

Great. I got my heart broken, my whole world turned upside-down and kidnapped all on the same day…

Could this day _really_ get any worse?!

Apparently Hiccup and I were about to find out. Because as the dragons carried us farther away, the air turned chilly which meant that the two of us were being taken far up North.

"Hey, you left my dragon back there! He can't fly on his own! He'll drown!" Hiccup shouted to our kidnapper as the temperatures began to drop. "You have to let us go back! _Please_!" I shouted only for my plea to fall on deaf ears.

Could that masked stranger not hear due to his mask or was he just plainly ignoring us?

I had no time to ponder on that because then, the dragons took us through several ice formations until we reached a gigantic mass of ice that looked almost identical to the one Hiccup, Astrid and I had discovered earlier!

"Just like the fort…" I mumbled in awe before Hiccup and I were carried into the depths. Once we were dropped off, Hiccup and I got to our feet and stayed close to each other. And for good reason, too.

There were _hundreds _of dragons surrounding us!

"Hey! We have to head back for our dragons!" Hiccup and I both said in a panic. Toothless and Stryka were in serious trouble! Hiccup and I just had to go find them!

But the dragons growled at us. They weren't gonna let us go.

Hiccup and I both looked at each other and nodded. Hiccup pulled out Inferno while I readied my sticks. Hitting the switches, we unleashed our flaming weapons. Hiccup waved his Dragon Blade in circles over his head while I twirled my sticks. The dragons that were closest to us thankfully followed our patterns and accepted us as one of their own. But then more hostile dragons approached!

"Get behind me, Zen…" Hiccup whispered to me as he retracted the flaming sword. I silently obeyed, while attaching the metal cuff to bind my sticks together. Hiccup reloaded a new cartridge of Zippleback gas into Inferno and formed a protective gas circle around us. At the same time he ignited the gas, I held my Fire Staff (_I made that name up myself_) and twirled it around over my head.

It worked! The dragons saw that we weren't a threat and backed off. Carefully, Hiccup and I reached out to some of them. But that was when the masked stranger reappeared. Hiccup and I were slightly startled. Almost instantly, Hiccup shielded me in order to protect me. I was scared like him…but I bravely chose to stand beside him, putting my sticks away so as not to come off as a threat to our kidnapper.

"Who are you? The Dragon Thief? Drago Bludvist?" Hiccup questioned the masked stranger who remained silent. "Look, we don't want any trouble. If we had trespassed into your territory, it was unintentional. Just let us go to find our dragons, and we'll leave you and your dragons in peace." I said diplomatically.

The Dragon Thief (_I decided to call him that from now on until Hiccup and I got answers to his true identity)_ didn't respond. And I found myself feeling even more afraid by the way the he moved. It was as if the Dragon Thief wasn't even human for he moved like a dragon and held a tall staff of the most unusual design.

The Dragon Thief then twirled that odd staff of his and struck the floor, sounding off rattles! Before Hiccup and I could even figure out what that was for, two dragons came forward.

With Toothless and Stryka!

"Stryka!" "Toothless!" Hiccup and I cried out, rushing to our two Night Furies. Oh Thor, I was so scared when I had seen Stryka crash through the ice earlier that I immediately gave her an on-the-spot check up.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm glad to see you too, bud. You really had me worried there…" Hiccup murmured as he comforted Toothless while I examined Stryka carefully. "Okay…no broken bones, no cuts, bruises or lacerations…And your heartbeat's good, Stryka…You really scared me back there, girl…" I said softly, putting away my stethoscope and petted Stryka. She crooned and nuzzled me.

Then, the Dragon Thief shook his staff again to make more rattling noises. And the dragons in the cave suddenly opened their mouths and their fire lit up the cave! Hiccup and I would have been amazed if the situation hadn't been potentially dangerous. It was eerie, I tell you. All those gaping, open mouths with fire coming out that illuminated the cave and made more shadows come out of the surroundings…

Hiccup and I began to back off as the Dragon Thief crouched down and approached us. Toothless and Stryka immediately went in front of the two of us and growled a warning. Suddenly the Dragon Thief simply waved his hand in front of their faces and they rolled over!

'_Holy Shields, how did he do that?!_' I thought, bewildered, before Hiccup got me behind him as the Dragon Thief reached out a hand towards him. "Ah, ah?" my best human friend stammered nervously as the Dragon Thief continued to reach out to him. That's when I heard the Dragon Thief gasp. I couldn't see very well due to Hiccup's broad shoulders slightly blocking my view but I took a little side step away from him in time to see the Dragon Thief back away.

"_Hiccup?_"

My ears perked up when I realized that, judging by the voice, the Dragon Thief was not a man but a _woman_.

My eye widened in shock as she removed her mask. The small pointed face of a woman with brown hair and brilliant bluish-green eyes was revealed. That's when I began to look back-and-forth between her and Hiccup.

"C-Could it be? After all these years? How is this possible?" the Dragon Thief said in amazement. "Ah, should I know you?" Hiccup asked nervously.

He _was _supposed to know her. The more I looked at the two of them, the more my brain could understand the sheer craziness of all of this. Frankly, I couldn't believe it at first but there was no mistaking it now.

The hair…the slim stature…the dragon connection…they were all so similar.

"No, you were only a babe…"

The Dragon Thief was none other than…

"_But a mother never forgets._"

_Hiccup's mother_.

I held back a gasp while Hiccup didn't. I couldn't blame the guy. I mean, this kind of revelation…well, who _wouldn't _be shocked?

The woman then motioned to us. "_Come._" She said and left at once.

Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I were left there standing in shock. Toothless and Stryka warbled to each other confusedly while I decided to look at Hiccup. Poor guy, he looked like he was about to pass out from shock. I quickly grabbed his shoulder to keep him steady as he wobbled uneasily on his prosthetic left leg.

"Your _Mom_? That's your _MOM?_" I squeaked, pointing to the retreating figure in the shadows. Hiccup didn't say anything. Instead, he ran after the woman along with Toothless. Naturally, Stryka and I followed them.

My mind was whirling with thoughts.

'_Hiccup's mom is alive? And she's been stealing dragons from dragon trappers and bringing them here? Why? Does this mean she knows about Drago Bludvist? Are they like enemies or something? Why didn't she come back to Berk? Why? Why? WHY?_' I thought as Stryka and I hurried after the boys.

Holy Shields, I hoped that I would find out the truth soon enough!

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><p><strong>(Normal POV)<strong>

Meanwhile…

Skullcrusher, Grump and Serpent and Serpentine ignored the biting wind as they flew onward. Their Riders were out on a mission to find Hiccup and Zenna along with their two Night Furies and they weren't gonna let them down. As their dragons flew on, Stoick, Gobber, Edgar and Henna discussed the present situation.

"Boar-headed, just like his mother. Ah, she could never stay put either." Stoick grumbled, the wind whipping back his mustache. "Nah, he's just _20_, and a _Viking_! I mean, could there be a worse combination?" Gobber asked rhetorically as they flew under an ice arch.

"Twenty _is _usually when wanderlust starts to set in, Gob!" Edgar hollered back as he and his wife lagged behind.

"Ha! When I think of how stubborn and senseless _you _were back in the day…" Gobber chuckled, looking at Stoick before then saying, "Oh…Well, not much has changed actually." Just as Serpent and Serpentine managed to catch up.

Stoick sighed deeply. If there was one thing Hiccup had inherited from him, it was his sheer stubbornness that's for sure…

"Ah, you know what he's like. He won't give up, Gobber." He told his old friend. "Don't forget, Stoick, that our daughter's just as hard-headed as your son. And if you put both their heads together…well, no use trying to get through to them!" Henna reminded her Chief, shaking her head. Stoick nodded to her in agreement.

As for Zenna…she was never one to abandon Hiccup. Even if it meant following his son blindly, Stoick knew that the Fiersome girl would never let Hiccup face danger alone.

"If Hiccup and Zenna find Drago, before we find them…" Stoick trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. "Odin, please let our dear girl be alright…" Edgar and Henna both prayed under their breaths. "Ah, nothing can hurt Hiccup and Zenna so long as those two Night Furies are around. _They're Night Furies!_" Gobber reassured the three parents.

That's when the baby in Henna's tummy kicked hard! Zenna's mother uttered a sharp yelp as she lost her balance and began to fall! "Henna!" Edgar cried, quickly getting Serpent closer to Serpentine in time to steady his wife. "I'm alright, love…The baby just got a bit fussy…" Henna muttered, rubbing her swollen belly to soothe her unborn child.

That's when Stoick decided that it was far too dangerous for the Fiersome family to continue on. With Henna eight months pregnant, going after her daughter in this kind of weather was dangerous for both her and her unborn baby.

"Henna, Edgar, you two head back to Berk. Gobber and I'll go look for Zenna." He ordered Henna and Edgar. "But Chief, Edgar and I need to be there for our sweet girl. For Thor's sake, she just had her heart broken, Stoick!" Henna protested. "It's our job to be there for our daughter when she's in trouble. And, now, she needs us more than ever!" Edgar said emphatically.

Stoick remained firm in his decision. "It's too dangerous. Henna, you're close to having a baby. And Edgar, you need to be with your wife and keep her safe and in good condition. _I order you two to return to Berk_." He told them seriously.

Edgar and Henna then heard Serpent and Serpentine croon worriedly at them. Even their own dragon agreed with the Chief!

"Listen to me, you two…I _promise_. Gobber and I will find Zenna. We'll bring her back to you two, safe and sound. I swear it." Stoick promised them. Finally, both Fiersomes turned their Zippleback around and flew back to Berk.

And it was a good thing they both did, because that was also the moment, Stoick spotted a large hole in the ice below and there was something floating in the water down there. Quickly, Stoick got Skullcrusher to fly down so he could grab whatever was floating in the water. Fear gripped Stoick's heart when he realized that he and his dragon had grabbed _two_ things out of the water.

Namely, Hiccup's helmet and Zenna's shield.

Stoick turned to Gobber, who looked just as worried as he was before holding the helmet and shield in front of Skullcrusher's keen nose.

"Find them, Skullcrusher." Stoick instructed his Rumblehorn. Skullcrusher carefully sniffed the two items.

"_Find them._"

At Stoick's words, Skullcrusher caught the scents of his Rider's son and his Rider's son's female friend and roared. Speeding up, Skullcrusher and Grump along with Stoick and Gobber flew off into the vast, arctic unknown.

**Shocker, huh? Next update will be next week. As for my Riders and Defenders of Berk story, Heather Report Part I will be posted this weekend ;)**


	7. Revelations and Another Kidnapping

**This weekend is my last weekend of sem break. Come Monday, it's back to school so I decided to work on this. Hope you all like it ;)**

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD 2.**

**Chapter 7: Revelations and Another Kidnapping**

'_Man, Hiccup's mom must have lived among dragons for a __long__ time…_' I thought as Hiccup and I went after her. It wasn't exactly easy. We had to squeeze through a lot of narrow spaces in the tunnels my best human friend's mother was leading us through.

"Um, h-hold on! Wait just a minute!"

Hiccup had now recovered from the shock and was now relentless in trying to get some answers. "This way." His mother motioned to us as she leaped from rock to rock, as agile as…well, I'd say maybe some of those gymnast people I had seen in Greece.

"Come." Hiccup's Mom called after us again. "Come back here!" Hiccup shouted. I had to continuously duck to avoid hitting my head on the rocks. How long did this tunnel go? "You can't just say something like that and run off! _You're _my _mother?! _I mean, do you grasp how insane that sounds?!" my best human friend asked loudly, obviously still in shock and now relentless in wanting to get answers. "Come, quickly." Hiccup's mother said as she easily climbed over an outcropping.

'_Yep, she's definitely Hiccup's mother…_' I thought, unable to keep myself from smiling in amusement. Aside from Hiccup, I now knew one other person in the world who would not listen to serious orders or questions that often.

"I have questions!" Hiccup declared, struggling to go over the same rock outcropping. "Where have you…been all this time…?!" he grunted as he tried to scale over the rock, failing several times, until I myself had gotten over the rocky hurdle and, with Toothless and Stryka's help, pulled him up. "Wh-what have you been doing? They-they said you were _dead_!" Hiccup continued as he went on ahead of me.

I followed in silence, curious as to know what would happen next.

"Everyone thinks you were eaten by…" Hiccup suddenly stopped talking as we finally got to the end of the tunnel. "What? What is it, Hicc? What do you…" I asked him, unable to contain my curiosity and peered over his shoulder.

"_Dragons…_" "Holy…_Shields…_"

Hundreds, thousands, no, _millions _of dragons were all over the place! Monstrous Nightmares, Deadly Nadders, Hideous Zipplebacks, Gronckles, Hotburples, Rumblehorns and all the dragon species I could name and even some Hiccup and I have never even encountered flew about this amazing paradise. There were lush green trees and tropical vegetation growing everywhere, which was incredible because we were in such a freezing area! That's when I noticed that there was ice surrounding the place, graceful forms of frozen water that glowed blue in the light. In short, this was like a paradise in the midst of the cold arctic for dragons!

This was a _Dragon Sanctuary_!

"If Fishlegs were here…he'd be freaking out by now…" I said in awe as Hiccup and I walked around, trying to take in every detail and every dragon we could see the best we could. Suddenly, Toothless and Stryka growled at something up above our heads. Looking up, we both saw Hiccup's Mom and her dragon, the Four-Winger I had seen earlier, looking at us.

I couldn't help but feel that the dragon my best human friend's mother was with…looked kind of familiar…

But now, I just watched as Hiccup tried to talk to his Mom.

"_This _is where you've been for _twenty years_?"

Nod.

"You've been rescuing them?"

Yet another nod.

"Unbelievable…" Hiccup murmured in awe. Finally she spoke. "You're not upset?" she asked hopefully. "What? No, well it's a bit much to get my head around to be frank. It's not every day you find out your mother is some kind of crazy, feral, vigilante dragon lady!" Hiccup rambled, accompanied by some much-needed and appropriate hand gestures.

I silently laughed along with Hiccup's mother. Even I had to admit that his statement was amusing. "Oh, ha-ha-ha. At least I'm not boring, right?" she asked him. A dragon had then approached Hiccup and was nudging him. "Well, I suppose there is that…one specific thing." Hiccup admitted, giving it a gentle pat. Another dragon had approached me and was busy trying to get my attention. "Hey there, friend…" I giggled, petting it on its snout.

"Do you…do you like it?" Hiccup's mother asked, slowly approaching Hiccup. "I-I…I don't have the words!" Hiccup said in awe.

Meanwhile, some of the dragons from the sanctuary were now surrounding Toothless and Stryka. At first I thought they were ganging up on the two of them but it turns out that they were just welcoming them. One of them even sniffed Toothless' behind! I giggled as Toothless gave them a small snarl to make them leave him and Stryka be.

"Can-Can I?" Mrs. Haddock (_I've now decided to call her that until she says otherwise_) asked hesitantly. Hiccup nodded along with me.

"Oh, they're beautiful…" Mrs. Haddock breathed out as she approached our two Night Furies. Toothless and Stryka immediately took a liking to her and they immediately bonded. "Oh, ha. Oh incredible. They-they might very well be the last two of their kind…" Mrs. Haddock said in amazement while Toothless and Stryka rolled over for belly rubs.

"And look! He's your age!" she gushed to her son, fingering the small nubs on Toothless' change. "Wow…" Hiccup said in awe. "Oh and so is this young dragoness! Mates! They're mates! Give them a year or two and they'll be ready to have hatchlings!"

Well, that little revelation got me and Hiccup excited and hopeful at the same time. Toothless and Stryka were close to coming of age! That meant that maybe after a year or two they'll have babies!

"No wonder you all get along so well." Mrs. Haddock laughed as she imitated Toothless and Stryka's adorable noises. Then our two Night Furies both slid their teeth back into their gums! "And retractable teeth! How did you two manage?" Mrs. Haddock asked us as she gently held our dragons' tongues and inspected their teeth by looking in. I couldn't help but admire her courage. You need to have guts to shove your head into _any _dragon's mouth!

And it looks like I wasn't so invisible to Hiccup's mother as I had originally feared.

"We found them in the woods. He was shot down and wounded while she came out of the brush to help him." Hiccup explained, gesturing to Toothless and then to Stryka.

All at once, Mrs. Haddock grew solemn and introduced us to some dragons she had rescued. "This _Snafflefang_ lost his leg to one of Drago Bludvist's iron traps." She began, showing us a blue and brown colored dragon with a stump for one of its hind legs.

"There's a little bit of swelling there…" I observed and brought out a small container of one of my soothing balms. The Snafflefang cooed gratefully as I gently spread the substance over its stump, easing the swelling.

"This _Raincutter _had a wing sliced by razor netting." Mrs. Haddock then introduced us to a sleek dragon with a torn wing. "Some bandages could help…" I suggested and, in no time, I had disinfected and bandaged the torn areas. The Raincutter gave me a gentle nuzzle in thanks.

"And this…" a color changing dragon then approached us, its eyes white with blindness. "Poor _Hobblegrunt_ was blinded by a tree snare…" Mrs. Haddock patiently held her hand out and let the poor blind dragon approach her slowly using its sensitive sense of smell.

"And then left to die all alone, scared…" she said sadly. Now, blindness was something that even I couldn't cure. "I feel your pain, big guy…" I cooed, giving the Hobblegrunt a hug. It changed color, which was hopefully a sign that meant it was feeling okay.

Deep inside, I felt unbearable anger toward the trappers. Especially…_him_. Could _he _have done all this? Was _he _and his gang of trappers all responsible for the dragons' suffering?

Then Mrs. Haddock turned to Toothless and Stryka. "And what of this? Did Drago or his trappers do these too?" she asked me and Hiccup, holding up Toothless' tail fin and stroked Stryka's eye patch.

Uh oh…

"Um, Stryka got injured when we had a little flying accident, Mrs. Haddock. That was also when I lost one eye as well." I managed to explain. As for Hiccup? Well, good luck to him!

Hiccup awkwardly laughed before looking at me with a look that clearly said, '_Help. Me!_' while I just gave him a look that said, '_You're on your own, man!_'

"Well, crazy thing is; _I'm _actually the one who…shot him down."

I nearly laughed at Mrs. Haddock's incredulous expression. Oh, Hiccup was toast!

"Hey, it's…It's okay though! You got me back, right bud? You couldn't save all of me, could you? You just had to make it even!" Hiccup managed to fully explain while he fooled around with Toothless. To finish his defense, Hiccup held his metal left foot out in front of him. "So, _peg leg!_" he concluded in a sing-song tone.

That's when Toothless and Stryka went under the both of us and bounced us onto their backs! Laughing Hiccup and I playfully scratched them under their chins, which they both loved. Mrs. Haddock regarded us warmly before looking at us both.

"Ehm, what did your father think of your Night Fury friend?" she asked Hiccup first. "Ah, he didn't take it all that well." Hiccup shrugged. "And how about you, lass?" she asked me directly. "My parents were shocked at first, I'll admit Mrs. Haddock." I replied politely.

"But then, he changed. They all did. Pretty soon everyone back home had dragons of their own." Hiccup told his mother. "Berk's now a land where Vikings and Dragons peacefully coexist, Mrs. Haddock." I chimed in.

She didn't really look too convinced. "If only it were possible." She said to Toothless and Stryka. "No, really." Hiccup managed to say before she continued. "Believe me, I tried as well but people are not capable of change, Hiccup." She said as she looked at her dragon.

"Some of us…were just born different."

As her dragon flew off, Mrs. Haddock decided to let us in on what had happened to her twenty years ago. I listened intently, for I was finally about to discover something important about my best human friend and his family.

"Berk was a land of kill or be killed. But I believed that peace was possible. It was a very unpopular opinion…"

I visualized a raid in Berk, like the ones back in the past. I could see Hiccup's Mom running about, trying to stop her fellow villagers from killing the dragons only to get disapproving looks…I guess that's where Hiccup got his natural talent in connecting with the dragons…

"Then, one night, a dragon broke into our house, finding you in the cradle…"

I can totally imagine how frightened she must have been when she saw that dragon break into her house. I imagined her grabbing a sword and rushing up the stairs to Hiccup's nursery…

"But what I saw…was proof of everything that I believed…"

Now, I remembered when Hiccup told me how he had gotten the scar on his chin. He told me that when he had first seen the dragon, he thought of it as a playmate and played with it. Then I remembered him telling me that the dragon had accidentally rocked the cradle he was in, causing its claw to nick his chin which gave him that familiar old scar…

"This wasn't a vicious beast. But an intelligent, gentle creature…whose soul…reflected my own…"

I now pictured the dragon and Hiccup's mother looking into each other's eyes…followed by Stoick charging in and trying to attack the dragon. In the resulting chaos of fire and ruin, the dragon had snatched her away and took off into the air, leaving Berk and a heartbroken husband and father…and a scarred and now motherless baby Hiccup behind…

"You and your father nearly died that night…_all because I __couldn't__ kill a dragon_." Mrs. Haddock then concluded, looking at Hiccup sadly. After a minute to take all the information in, Hiccup sighed, "Well, it runs in the family."

And I had to agree with him on that. Hiccup was never meant to be a dragon killer. He was a dragon trainer through and through…just like his mother.

"It broke my heart to stay away, but I believed that you'd be safer if I did." Mrs. Haddock told him, guilt written clearly on her face.

'_It wasn't exactly always safe for Hiccup…He was always being pushed around and picked on…It would have been a bit better for him and his childhood if she had been there for him…_' I thought.

"How did you survive?" Hiccup asked his Mom. "That's what I'd like to know too." I piped up. Mrs. Haddock then saw her dragon return to the cliff we were currently standing on. "Oh, Cloudjumper never meant to harm me. He must have thought I belonged here…" she told us, leading to the lookout view.

I only had a minute to look at Cloudjumper curiously before…

Hiccup and I saw it.

"In the home of the great _Bewilderbeast_."

A majestic, snowy white dragon that was a lot bigger than the tyrannical Red Death we had faced five years ago! Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I were in awe of the great dragon. And we also noticed that any dragon who went near it bowed down to show respect.

"The alpha species, one of the very few that still exist. Every nest has its Queen but _this_ is the _King of All Dragons_!" Mrs. Haddock told us, smiling as she introduced us to the ruler of the Dragon Sanctuary. "With his icy breath, this graceful giant built our nest. A safe haven for dragons everywhere." She continued, gesturing to the Sanctuary's icy interior as we walked down to get up close.

"It breathes _ice_?" I asked in amazement. "Wait, that's the ice-spitter? He's responsible for all that destruction?" Hiccup asked, referring to the fort we had found earlier. "He protects us. We all live under his care and his command." Mrs. Haddock explained to us both.

I then spotted a bunch of colorful, baby dragons surrounding Toothless and Stryka. At first the two of them were happy to meet them. But when they started to come a bit too close, Cloudjumper had to roar in order to shoo them off!

"All but the babies of course, who…listen to no one." Mrs. Haddock laughed as we watched some of the babies playing on the Bewilderbeast's head and flying off when the great Dragon King woke up from his nap.

Hiccup and I stood as still as statues while Mrs. Haddock, Cloudjumper, Toothless and Stryka chose to bow to the mighty beast. The two of us were just awestruck. Up close, the Bewilderbeast had icy blue eyes that were still so gentle as he looked at us. And mind you, he was _gigantic_. Hiccup and I honestly felt like ants as we gazed at the Bewilderbeast.

"I've lived among them for twenty years, you two, learning their ways, discovering their secrets." Mrs. Haddock told us, just as the Bewilderbeast breathed out some icy vapor. Hiccup and I shut our eyes to avoid getting them frozen and when we opened them, we saw that our hair had iced up!

"Ha, ha. He likes you two." Mrs. Haddock chuckled. "_Wow…_" Hiccup and I both breathed out in awe as we shook the ice off our hair.

Cloudjumper then suddenly nudged me. I turned around to see him cocking his head to one side. Curious, I copied him and he crooned before looking up and suddenly doing a little jump. Something about his actions told me that he wanted me to say something.

I decided to just say the most random thing I could think of. "Yes, you…jump over clouds?" I said, a little unsure if that made any sense. To my surprise, Cloudjumper started jumping around excitedly!

That's when I realized why he looked so familiar.

"Holy Shields, I _know _you!" I gasped as a brief memory flashed back into my mind.

_(Zen's flashback starts)_

'_She had run away into the forest that day. Her parents had just told her that they were going to leave the South after a month to go to a new island where they will live from now on. Zenna hadn't taken that announcement too well and ran away from the village. And she didn't stop running until she had reached the glade where she and Eret frequented because their wolf friends were usually there. Poor eight-year old Zenna was crying, tears welling up in her violet eyes and slipping down her face…_

_That's when she realized that the wolves weren't in the glade. Then, she heard the distinctive sounds of the pack howling accompanied by a fierce growl that didn't sound so wolfish. Following the sounds, Zenna ended up in an open field where she saw the wolves…surrounding a dragon!_

_Little Zenna gasped in shock before deciding to intervene before things turned ugly. Quickly, she howled to the wolves to get their attention. The wolves, hearing her call, obediently loped over to her and she soothed them with pats and cuddles. The dragon then watched the young Fiersome girl with curious golden eyes._

"Go home, friends. Leave the dragon alone." _Zenna told her wolf friends nicely. The pack eventually left the field to go back into the safety of the forest. That was when the dragon flew over to Zenna and landed right in front of her! Amazingly enough, Zenna stayed calm and stared unflinchingly into the four winged dragon's eyes. Even when the beast tossed its head back and roared right in her face, Zenna stood firm! The dragon could then only stare back at her in surprise._

"You have _four _wings! Four-winger! Four-winger!" _Curious and excited, Zenna then laughed as she raised her arms up and down, pretending that she had wings of her own. Then she cocked her head to the left, which the dragon copied. And then she cocked her head to the right, which the dragon copied as well. Then much to her surprise, the dragon did a full turn!_

"You're like an owl, four-winger." _Zenna giggled. The dragon's gaze softened and shook its head. _"Oh, you have a name?" _Zenna asked innocently. The dragon nodded and then looked up at the clouds in the sky. Zenna figured that the dragon wanted her to guess its name._

"Cloud? Your name's Cloud?"

_The dragon then jumped up a bit._

"Jump? Is that your name?"

_The dragon shook its head and looked up at the clouds again before doing another jump. Zenna thought hard._

"You jump over clouds?"

_At that question, the dragon made a face that could have only meant, '_Way to be obvious_' that was so comical that Zenna giggled. _"You are a jumper of clouds…" _Zenna mumbled to herself._

_Suddenly, she understood._

"Jumper…Cloud…Other way around…that spells…Cloud…jumper…_Cloudjumper!_ That's your name! Your name's _Cloudjumper_!" _she exclaimed, throwing her arms out grandly to show the dragon that she got it. The dragon then warbled and nodded. _"Yay! I got it, I got it, I got it!" _Zenna giddily cheered. The dragon, Cloudjumper, then looked off into the distance. Zenna had a feeling that she was gonna have to say good-bye to her new friend now._

"Bye-bye, Cloudjumper! I hope we see each other again someday." _She waved to the dragon. Cloudjumper crooned, looking at the little girl with what looked like a smile before spreading its massive four wings and taking off._

_Zenna smiled to herself. She had made a new friend…and it was a dragon named Cloudjumper…_'

_(Zen's flashback ends)_

"Holy Shields, it _is _you! You've gotten bigger the last time I saw you, Cloudjumper!" I laughed as my old friend nuzzled me. Stryka gave me a confused croon along with Toothless while Hiccup looked at me in amazement.

"You know him?" Hiccup asked me, gesturing to Cloudjumper. "Yeah, I met him in the South a month before I moved to Berk with my family…Wow…I always wondered if I'd see him again someday and now I have! Cool coincidence, huh?" I told him, petting Cloudjumper gently.

"Aye, it is. And what a great coincidence to see you again, lass." Mrs. Haddock said to me as she walked over to me and gently held my face in her hands. "I was there, hiding in the woods from the wolves, when I saw you. You were quite a brave child, not running away even when Cloudjumper tried to scare you. And I've never forgotten those eyes of yours…or, _eye _in your case right now." She said gently. Both Hiccup and I were amazed. This was suddenly turning into a day of great revelations and coincidences!

"Oh, she's a beauty son! She'll make an excellent wife! She loves dragons just as much as you do! Well, aren't you going to formally introduce me to my future daughter-in-law?" Mrs. Haddock gushed, gently placing a hand on my shoulder and looking at my best human friend expectantly.

And now…for the explanation part of the day.

Hiccup and I both groaned in exasperation, "We're _not _dating!" while temporarily forgetting that this was the first time we had ever met Hiccup's Mom!

"What?" she asked us, surprised. Realizing what we had done, Hiccup and I blushed and immediately began stammering out apologies. If I had looked over my shoulder, I would have seen Toothless and Stryka quietly snickering in the only way dragons can.

It was half a dozen apologies and few minutes to compose ourselves and collect our thoughts later when Hiccup and I decided to fully explain.

"Um…_Mom_…she and I aren't dating. We…have our own love interests…" Hiccup told his mother awkwardly. "Hiccup's '_milady'_, Mrs. Haddock, is _Astrid Hofferson_-the finest shield maiden and axe wielder in all of Berk, Rider of the Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, and Berk's resident Sharp Class and Tracker Class expert." I hastened to add.

"Right! And she…" Hiccup began to say when I realized that he was about to tell her about…_him_. "Uh, I'm not currently dating anyone, Mrs. Haddock. And I don't really plan to right now…or ever for that matter." I said quickly.

Mrs. Haddock looked slightly surprised, but also looked like she could understand what we were saying.

Hiccup then decided to do a more formal introduction. "Mom, this is _Zenna Arrowhead Fiersome_. She and her family moved to Berk from the South twelve years ago. We've been best friends ever since the day they arrived. She's one of the bravest, strongest and most loyal fighters in Berk, the Dragon Doctor…and an amazing friend." He grinned as he introduced me to her. "It is an honor to meet you, Mrs. Haddock." I greeted, politely curtsying. Finally, Mrs. Haddock smiled. "It's an honor and a pleasure to meet you as well, Zenna. And please, call me _Valka_." She said warmly.

That broke the ice and the three of us were now all at ease with each other.

"You two must be hungry." _Valka _said. That's when I realized that I was _starving! _"Ah, yeah, Zenna and I could eat." Hiccup shrugged. "Good. It's feeding time." Valka smiled, showing us the way.

That's when a ray of light shone down on my pendant. I blinked against the glare of the glinting silver before taking it off my neck. I then looked at the pendant and then at the water down below. I was slightly troubled as I pondered on what I was about to do.

This pendant had once belonged to Eret's mother, who died a long time ago. Eret had once told me that he only knew her for a short while before she passed away and that the pendant was the only thing he had left of her. And he had given it to me before I left the South…as a token of his love…

'_And then he turned around and became a no-good Dragon Trapper, Zenna! He doesn't love you anymore! You don't need this stupid, worthless pendant anymore! Throw it away so you can feel better!_' my subconscious told me. I nodded. Eret and I had grown apart…and we were now supposedly enemies.

Taking a deep breath, I threw the pendant as hard as I could. It sailed through the air before falling into the water with a barely audible '_plop!_'

The Bewilderbeast then looked at me curiously. Quickly, I excused myself. "Your Dragon Highness…" I said curtsying before I quickly left to follow Valka and my friends.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile…<p>

**Eret's POV**

'_It's official. The gods hate me…_' I thought through my annoying headache, holding an ice block to my head, while my crew struggled to clear the ice. First, I broke Zenna's heart. Second, my men and I hadn't caught any more new dragons for Drago and now…we were currently stuck because the waters around our ship were filled with ice!

"Do we go back?" One of my men asked me. I finally lost it. "We've nowhere to go, nothing to sell and no heads to call our own, if we don't turn up with dragons and fast…!" I all but managed to blow up before I was suddenly snatched by a dragon!

"Careful what you wish for!"

Oh great…that Astrid girl and her Nadder again!

As my men tried to take the dragon carrying me off down with the nets, I looked around and saw that the same gang of Dragon Riders was with my kidnapper. "What is this?!" I demanded while holding onto the Nadder for dear life. "A kidnapping." Astrid replied.

Then the Twin girl who was trying to flirt with me earlier got in too close. "Yay! Can he ride with me? Can he? _Can he_?" she asked eagerly, latching onto my arm. '_Odin's axe, get this crazy girl away from me!_' I thought as I tried to move. Luckily the girl's twin brother grimaced and directed the Zippleback they were both riding on away, much to my relief.

"You're going to show us the way to Drago." Astrid told me. Ha! As if I'd do _that_! "And help Dragon Riders sneak into Drago's camp? Just kill me now!" I refused. "That can be arranged! Stormfly, drop it!" Astrid smirked.

Oh no, she wouldn't!

And then, I found myself falling down towards the frozen ocean at breakneck speed!

Yep, she would!

"Good girl! Stormfly, fetch!" I heard Astrid amidst my screams. I was desperate and terrified so I gave in. "Ahhhhhh! Alright! Okay, _I'll take you to Drago_!" I yelled fearfully as the ice got closer and closer!

In the nick of time, Stormfly caught me. "Ha, works every time." I heard Astrid say confidently. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, I tried to relax.

Little did I know that that was just the beginning of the torture.

"Oh, almost forgot!" that was what I managed to hear from Astrid before I was dropped again!

"That's for Zenna!" she shouted, catching me and then dropping me _yet again_!

"That's for breaking her heart!" she had Stormfly fetch me before dropping me for what I hoped was the last time!

Oh Thor, if this is the punishment I deserve just hit me with one of your lightning bolts already!

"And that's just because I hate you!" Astrid snapped at me, having her dragon Stormfly fly down after me.

I breathed out a huge sigh of relief when I was caught once more and, thankfully, stayed that way. But now, I could feel only shame as I remembered what I had done. Now, I had to show them the way to Drago's camp. And I had a feeling that Drago wasn't going to be very happy about this…

'_It's official. The gods __truly__ hate me!_' I thought miserably.

**Read and review. Those things inspire me to write better ;)**


	8. My Best Friend's Mother

**Hey everyone ;)**

**So sorry to say this, but my update for Riders and Defenders of Berk won't be until next week. I'm sorry. But it's just that I'm going on a 3 day retreat with my classmates next week and I haven't finished Heather Report Part II yet. Don't worry, I'll update it next week.**

**In the meantime, here's an update for HTTYD 2. Enjoy ;)**

**Note: I do NOT own HTTYD (both the films and series).**

**Chapter 8: My Best Friend's Mother**

When we were flying on our dragons, I suddenly had a feeling that when Valka meant by '_feeding time_' she meant feeding time _for the dragons_. I patted Stryka's side gently and watched along with Hiccup at the multitude of dragons joining us outside the Dragon Sanctuary.

"Hey, I-I thought we were going to eat!" Hiccup called out to his Mom. Valka, who was such a great Dragon Rider that she practically _stood bareback _on Cloudjumper, swooped over to us. "Oh, we are!" she replied, holding out her hand and directing our gazes down to the water.

Massive two-headed Tidal Class dragons, called _Seashockers_, were circling around a huge school of fish like a pod of dolphins. All of a sudden, the Bewilderbeast breached the surface of the water and scooped all the fish up into his mouth and spat them out before going back into the water!

"Holy Shields, it's raining _fish_! Now I've seen everything!" I laughed along with Valka while Hiccup just looked around in open-mouthed amazement. Dragons immediately began to swoop and fly all over the place, snapping up whatever fish they could get.

Toothless and Stryka looked at us hopefully. Smiling, Hiccup and I gave them an affirmative nod. The two of them practically went into a double power dive to have their bellies filled! Stryka was polite enough to eat her catch one at a time while Toothless, had his mouth stuffed with fish.

Stryka gave a slight scolding warble to Toothless, who merely swallowed all the fish in one gulp and gave her an innocent puppy dog look. "Oh, Toothless…" I chuckled as feeding time soon ended and Valka, Hiccup and I landed our dragons on a snowy peak.

Hiccup immediately took out his map and showed to his mother all the incredible places he had discovered. "And then from Dragon Island, I found this archipelago…" he managed to say before I nudged him to look at his Mom. Valka was using her staff to draw a much _larger _map in the snow. "There." She pointed to the drawing that matched her son's. "Wow…" Hiccup breathed out in awe. "Whoa…That's almost as big as _my _map!" I remarked, taking out a copy of the map Stryka and I had used for our travels.

"Oh, I've been to that one…And Cloudjumper and I found some rather useful medicinal plants here…" Valka told me. I was amazed at how Valka had explored almost _half _of all the lands in my map. "You definitely have the whole world open up to you when you're on the back of a dragon, that's for sure." I smiled at Valka along with Hiccup before we both frowned in confusion as Toothless and Stryka then proceeded to draw on Valka's snow map with icicles in their mouths.

Valka chuckled lightly at our two Night Furies' antics and me and Hiccup laughed out loud when we saw Cloudjumper do a 180 degree head turn to watch them. And in the end, the icicles got stuck to their tongues and the three of us Dragon Riders had to be very careful in pulling them icicles off of Toothless and Stryka's tongues.

Oh, what would we do if we didn't have our two best dragon friends and their silly antics?

Also, Valka introduced me and Hiccup to all the dragons in the Sanctuary. There's _Gruff_, the blind Hobblegrunt I had comforted earlier, the baby _Scuttleclaws_, who listen to no one, Snafflefangs, Raincutters, Tidegliders and so much more. Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I made so many new friends! And I got to learn some new recipes for salves and brews to cure dragon illnesses from Valka as well as show my doctor skills in treating some injured dragons.

"Alright, big boy. You're all good." I grinned, petting a Tideglider who had gotten a shard of ice stuck in its side, which I had carefully removed and disinfected the wound. "You have a gift, Zen. A great gift." Valka told me. "Thank you, Mrs. Valka." I smiled, deciding to be a bit formal in addressing her.

Hey, she _is _my best human friend's mother.

The highlight of the day occurred late in the afternoon. Valka had taken us to some high cliffs with wild thermal drafts coming from down below. Dragons were hurling themselves off the cliffs to let the hot air pouch under their wings and carry them aloft. Hiccup and I had a blast with Toothless and Stryka!

"This is so much fun!" I yelled over the howling wind. "Woohoo!" Hiccup hollered. And then, Valka impressed us all the more by walking lightly from one dragon to another. She walked across Toothless and lovingly ruffled Hiccup's shaggy brown hair before lightly crossing over to me and Stryka and gently brushed my bangs behind my ear. I couldn't help but smile happily. Valka was just so sweet and motherly that I almost saw her as my second Mom. Joining her up higher into the air, Hiccup and I enjoyed the view.

"Oh, when I'm up here, I don't even feel the cold. I just feel…" Valka said before Hiccup and I finished her sentence for her. "_Free._" We both said, looking at each other and grinned. Valka smiled and took a deep breath of the cool, crisp arctic air. "_This _is what it is to be a dragon, Hiccup and Zenna!" she told us happily.

I then saw Hiccup sit up a bit straighter on the saddle. I rolled my eye. I knew what was coming next. "It's all well and good to call yourself a dragon, but can you _fly_?!" he asked, loudly proclaiming the last word as he then jumped off of Toothless. "It's okay, Ms. Valka…He's…sort of practiced." I said upon seeing Valka gasp in fear before I decided to follow Hiccup down too.

"Ha, ha, woohoo!" "Waaahooo!" Hiccup and I yelled as we opened our wings and glided through the air. At one point, we flipped ourselves over to find our flying companions no longer up above us. Then they promptly reappeared by our sides. Valka was beaming at us proudly and in awe.

"Woooohoooo!" Hiccup and I hollered as we flipped ourselves back to normal gliding position and enjoyed our solo gliding. But, of course, flying troubles happened once again.

This time, we were headed straight for a snowy mountain peak and we couldn't stop!

"Mayday again!" I shrieked. "Ah! Oh no! Ahhh!" Hiccup shouted in alarm before Toothless and Stryka caught us in their wings. We barely missed hitting the mountain, flew through a narrow hole and rocketed down into the snow. Once our dragons had opened their wings, Hiccup and I popped out of the snow, all dusted in white powder.

"We still need to work on our landing." I deadpanned. Hiccup, on the other hand, was pumped. "Ha! Woohoohoohoo, man almost. We just about had it that time." He whooped as Toothless sneezed the snow off of his face. Stryka had the grace to give him a lick before shaking the snow off of her. I then laughed when Toothless swung his tail and knocked Hiccup off his feet.

"How's that snow taste, Hicc?" I giggled as Valka landed and sprinted over to us. "Oh, incredible." She breathed out, inspecting Hiccup's flight suit in amazed fascination. "Well, not bad yourself." Hiccup smiled as his mother's hand then gently cupped his right cheek.

I looked on as Hiccup tenderly leaned into his mother's touch, something I'm sure he had been wanting to experience for a long time.

"All this time, you took after me…" Valka said, gently touching her dear son's face before her expression saddened. "And…where was I?" she said softly. I could tell that she felt guilty for having missed out on 20 years of Hiccup's life. But of course, I didn't blame Valka…and I'm pretty sure Hiccup didn't have any hard feelings for her. "I'm so sorry, Hiccup…Can we start over? Will-will you give me another chance?" she asked Hiccup. And even if he didn't say anything, the look on his face meant that all was forgiven.

"I-I can teach you and Zenna all I've learned these past 20 years. Like…" Valka said, going over to Toothless and Stryka. What she did next surprised me and Hiccup. She gently massaged them both on one special spot on their necks…and the back spines split!

"Wow." "Holy Shields." Hiccup and I said in amazement. "Now, you two can make those tight turns." Valka told our two best dragon friends.

Toothless and Stryka bounded over to us, their tongues hanging out of their mouths in excitement. "Did you know about this?" Hiccup asked Toothless, who happily clapped his spines together. Then, Stryka decided to reveal her little secret to Valka. "_Zzzenn, lwook! Nuueeww ssppiiaanness! Lwook awt mwee! Whheee!_" she warbled as she took off and flew about, perfecting sharp turns every single time.

"I can definitely see them, girl. Now, what do you say to Ms. Valka?" I smiled at her when she had landed. Stryka then faced Valka and crooned, "_Thwank Ywou, Misss Vawlkwa_…" toothless gums showing in her wide grin.

"Odin's ghost…" Valka said in amazement. "She's been practicing on her own. She taught herself human speech all by herself." I said proudly. Toothless warbled proudly in agreement with me. Valka took a minute to look at me, Hiccup, Toothless and Stryka before smiling proudly at us.

"Your bond with each other is the strongest I've ever seen. I'm so proud of you four." She told us, beaming. "Well, to be honest, we still have a lot to learn. And I'm pretty sure you know more about the dragons than we do, Ms. Valka." I replied modestly while Hiccup and I watched Toothless and Stryka play in the snow.

"Every dragon has its secrets. And, I'll show them all to you two." Valka said and looked at Hiccup fondly. "We'll unlock every mystery, find every last species together, as mother and son." She told him as I watched Toothless and Stryka burrow through the snow before bursting out of it in front of Cloudjumper, who promptly dumped some more snow onto their heads.

Upon hearing Valka's words however, I felt slightly troubled. Was Hiccup going to stay here? Would he rather be with his mother far, far away from Berk instead of sooner or later rising to the position of Chief? What about his Dad and Astrid? I felt kind of worried. Whatever decision my best human friend made, I vowed that I would always stand by him. But if he chose to stay here…did that mean I have a duty to remain here with him as well and not see my family again? I wasn't so sure…

I chose to talk to Hiccup about this matter later in private and listened to the conversation between him and his Mom. "This gift we share, it bonds us. This is who you are, son. Who _we _are." Valka told Hiccup, who perked up at his mother's words. '_That is true. I'll have to agree with her on that…_' I thought, smiling to myself. I knew Hiccup really well and I knew that his whole life is dedicated to Toothless and the dragons.

"We will change the world for all dragons. We will make it a better, safer place!" Valka said, delighting Hiccup to no end. "Yeah! That sounds…_amazing!_" he said, looking a bit overwhelmed but happy nonetheless. And when Valka hugged him…well, I've never seen my best human friend that glad to be hugged. But, of course, it was his _Mom _hugging him for the first time in twenty years after all. My heart melted at this touching moment. Oh, if we can just convince Valka to come back to Berk with us then Hiccup will finally have his whole family back. And imagine how the people of Berk will rejoice at the return of the Chief's wife!

"Ah, this is so great! Now you, Zenna and I can go talk to Drago _together_." Hiccup said to his Mom. Valka looked surprised at his suggestion. "What? There's no talking to Drago." She said, petting Cloudjumper. "You know him, Ms. Valka?" I asked. "I do, Zenna. And he's a complete madman. The maddest of the lot, in fact." Valka nodded. "But, we have-" Hiccup managed to say before his mother said, "No, _we must protect our own_."

'_That sounds a lot like what Stoick would usually say…_' I thought as Valka called to us, "Come on, we should be getting back."

Hiccup and I stood there for a minute to try and process all our thoughts when we vaguely registered our two Night Furies excited pants as they clapped their newly split spines, eager to try them out. Hiccup and I obliged them a flight, where we began to debate.

"Since your Mom's against talking to Drago, Hiccup, then maybe we should forget about talking some sense into him. He sounds like he's really bad news." I suggested politely. "We can't just give up when we haven't tried, Zenna." Hiccup pointed out. "I know, but…well, maybe we really _shouldn't_ try. It could be dangerous." I advised him. Hiccup sighed deeply. "I _know _I can do this, Zen. I'll show to Drago that dragons can bring people together. And…maybe after him, you and I can try changing…" he then trailed off before looking at me with concern. I knew what he wanted to say, and I just really didn't want to be reminded of what had happened earlier on the god forsaken ship. "I know what you're trying to tell me, Hiccup. And I really don't want a reminder of the heartache I've been through so let's not talk about it anymore." I said flatly. But then I changed my mind when I saw the hurt in Hiccup's emerald green eyes.

"I mean…can we at least change the subject?" I asked quietly. Hiccup nodded and waited for me to speak again. "Hiccup, are you thinking of living here with your Mom?" I began. "Well, we _do _have a lot of catching up to do…" he shrugged. "Then what about your Dad? And Astrid? Are you willing to leave the two of them and Berk behind? What about your birthright to become the next Chief? Are you willing to give up all of that to be with your mother?" I asked him carefully. Hiccup blinked at me in surprise and remained silent for a moment. Then, he looked at me. "I don't really want to be Chief yet, Zen. But I _do _want my family to be reunited again and I want Astrid to meet Mom. So…you think you can help me in convincing her to come back home with us?" he asked me. I instantly brightened up at his words. "I'm always ready to help you, Hicc. _Okay?_" I grinned. "_Okay._" Hiccup grinned right back and we quickly went back to the Sanctuary to spend the night.

In the Dragon Sanctuary, as night began to fall, I played with the dragons and practiced some moves with my Fire Staff. But, then, I decided to name it _Ember_. For me, Fire Staff suddenly sounded way too obvious and Ember sounded a whole lot cooler. All the while, Hiccup and his mother talked and talked and talked while I practiced down below close to the Bewilderbeast's pool. Then at one point, I managed to hear a bit of their conversation.

"She had a childhood sweetheart?"

"Yeah…I just found out about it today…I would have liked the guy if he wasn't a trapper, Mom…"

"A trapper?"

"A _Dragon _trapper."

I stopped practicing when I heard that. Did Hiccup really have to tell that to his Mom? It kind of felt like a violation of privacy. But, I decided to eavesdrop a bit.

"One of Drago's hired men, perhaps…Did she know?" I heard Valka's say worriedly. "She didn't. And when she tried to find out why, he wouldn't even look at her. I was shocked, Mom. Zenna had actually waited for this Eret guy almost her whole life and he didn't even try to find her. I'd like to go try change his mind about the dragons as well…But after what he did to Zenna…I don't really like him that much now." Hiccup's voice said next.

"_Eret_? Zenna's sweetheart is that cocky trapper?" I heard Valka ask in surprise. Then, I heard her sigh sadly. "You know him, Mom?" Hiccup asked curiously. "I do, son…And I pity him greatly." Valka replied.

'_Pity? She's been rescuing dragons trapped by Eret and she pities him?_' I thought to myself in shock. Apparently Hiccup was thinking the same thing for he asked, "Why would you pity him? You've been saving dragons from his traps. Isn't he one of the bad guys?" Valka's voice answered, "Circumstances made him do all of that, Hiccup. If it's alright with Zenna, I'd like to tell her that."

That's when I decided to get a lift to where Hiccup and Valka were. I decided not to tell them that I heard part of their conversation and pretended to be tired. "Man…I'm beat. And it must be getting late. We should probably get to bed." I fake-yawned, stretching to emphasize my point.

Valka had already prepared two beds for me and Hiccup and Toothless and Stryka curled up next to us. I saw Valka smile as I decided to cuddle close with Hiccup. "Hey, Hicc…you think you can sing me that old lullaby of yours?" I asked hopefully. Hiccup smiled at me gently and softly began to sing…

_**Have no fear my dear**_

_**For I am right here**_

_**Close your eyes and sleep**_

_**Dream and do not weep**_

I actually began to feel sleepy as Hiccup sang to me. I felt his arms gently wrap around me in a loving embrace and I smiled, closing my eye. I had really missed that lullaby he had first sung to me when I was severely depressed in the wake of Elias' death.

_**In my arms you're safe and warm**_

_**I'll protect you from all harm**_

_**Have no fear my dear**_

_**For I am right here**_

"Sweet dreams, my son…and daughter." I heard Valka say softly before I fell into a deep slumber…

**Like it or hate it? Read and review please ;)**


	9. How Do I Say I'm Sorry?

**Hi everyone ;)**

**While my update on Riders and Defenders of Berk will still be next weekend (I am so, so, SO sorry!) I decided to finish this new chapter for HTTYD 2.**

**Warning: Prepare to lose your feels XD**

**Disclaimer: I do ****NOT ****own anything.**

**Chapter 9: How Do I Say "I'm Sorry"?**

**Eret's POV**

It was close to nightfall by the time we reached Drago's camp. I gave Astrid the directions on how to get inside the ice cave and then, once she and her friends flew their dragons in, had Stormfly drop me. I landed face first in the snow and got up, making a run for it. But then Astrid had her Nadder sit on me!

"Okay! I got you here! Now, get this thing off me!" I said to Astrid as I tried to wriggle out. "Never take a toy from a dragon, don't you know anything?" she merely scoffed before leaving me with her annoying mother hen of a dragon. "Why does this keep happening to me?" I groaned, my voice getting muffled by Stormfly's wings as she cocooned me.

Seriously, why was she so attached to me? _I _was the one who tried to trap her!

'_Maybe this is the kind of thing a dragon who's…bonded with you usually does…Maybe this is what Zenna was trying to show you_…' a little voice in my head told me. Before I could even think of considering that small theory, I heard shouts and roars. Almost at the same time, Stormfly released me and I saw Drago's men surrounding us! Quickly I drew my sword before realizing that they were here for the Dragon Riders and their dragons.

Maybe Drago knew that I could use some assistance and wasn't going to punish me after all…

Once we arrived at the ship, I tried to stay calm even though I was shaking on the inside. "Drago!" I greeted as cheerfully as I could when one of the soldiers poked me with a spear. "Get off me!" I shoved the guy off before looking back at Drago. As usual, I felt chills travel up my spine as he made eye contact with me. Years of working for him have taught me how to mask my fear but it still didn't change the fact that I was very much afraid of him

"Haha, always great to see you my friend, keeping warm up here? Well as you can see, I'm right here on time with a new batch of dragons. Just like I've promised." I told him just as the Monstrous Nightmare belonging to the short, black haired Rider woke up!

"Give me some back up here!" the soldiers yelled as they tried to calm the beast down. Suddenly Drago said, "Drop the ropes."

The men obeyed and he stepped in front of the dragon. Not wanting to be taken lightly, the dragon fired right at him! But Drago's dragon skin cloak was completely fireproof. He just shielded himself with it as he slowly advanced before taking out his bull hook.

'_I'll never understand how yelling helps you control a dragon…That doesn't even look like a good method…_' I thought while Drago let out his famous screams. I saw the Monstrous Nightmare flinch and surrender, bowing its head to Drago.

That's when I remembered what Drago used in order to control dragons and people: fear.

He used that on his Bewilderbeast, he used that on his soldiers…and he used that on me.

"Hookfang!" the dragon's Rider shouted in distress when Drago stepped on its face. "Hey!" that weird, crazy girl twin said next. "What are you doing?" Astrid demanded. Drago just smirked and said triumphantly. "You belong to me now." He said simply. I honestly felt awful for Hookfang. Deep down, I knew that doing this to magnificent dragons was wrong but I never had enough courage so as to even stand up to Drago…

"And, as an added bonus, I also caught you their Riders. No extra charge." I said, not even minding the consequences. One part of me felt pretty good to say that while the other half was practically screaming, '_You numbskull, do you even __know__ what you're doing?!_'

"What?! Are you kidding me?" Astrid looked both furious and betrayed while the twin girl complained, "Ah, but you were so perfect!"

"Turns out, there's a whole bunch of them out there." I told Drago while also looking at the girl twin weirdly. Like I could care less what that crazy woman thought of me anyway! But when I looked at Drago again, he was _not _happy. "How many?" he asked in a dangerous tone before grabbing me by the throat! I gasped as my air supply was sharply cut off. "Drago doesn't have them after all…" I heard Astrid whisper to her friends.

If she meant Hiccup and Zenna, I was relieved. As long as Drago didn't know about her, she'd be safe.

"HOW MANY?!" Drago's angry yell brought me back to focus and I visibly flinched while desperately trying to get some air. Oh, I was so dead…

Suddenly Astrid came forward. I'll tell you, the girl's got spunk and a whole lot of courage. She'd make a pretty darn good shield maiden. "Hundreds! A whole island full!" she told Drago with easy confidence.

Drago's grip tightened on my throat and I was beginning to feel lightheaded. "I wouldn't worry about it. My men are hunting them down as we speak. They won't know where you're hiding. I promise that." I lied, half wheezing already. "Oh, yes they will!" Astrid spoke up. That caused Drago to release me. I fell to the ground, gasping for air and fearfully looked up at Drago while Astrid continued to talk.

"They know we're missing and they have tracking dragons. If you so much as touch us, Hiccup is gonna-"

'_Please don't mention Zenna, please don't mention Zenna!_' I prayed before Drago, much to my relief, interrupted. "_Hiccup?_" he asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at me. "He's not a problem. Really. Trust me." I said quickly, rubbing my neck nervously in an attempt to ease the pain.

Astrid didn't seem a bit afraid and continued. "He's only the son of Stoick the Vast, his heir to the throne of Berk and the greatest dragon master this world has ever seen!" she boasted. I had to admit that she made Hiccup sound like a hero…maybe that's when Zenna thought of him too…

"Dragon master?" Drago asked, incredulous. '_Uh-oh, this is going to be ugly…_' I thought before Drago blew up at her. "I ALONE control the dragons!" he roared. "Nope." The boy twin said before the overweight blond Viking chimed in with, "Sorry!"

But Astrid wasn't done yet. I tried to be as discreet as possible while I put some distance away from all this tension. "And unless you let us go, right now, he will blast through here on his Night Fury and blow your entire fleet of ships to splinters!" she declared.

'_She still hasn't mentioned Zenna yet…I just hope that she just shuts up already…_' I thought, feeling slightly relieved.

"Then they'll be crying like babies!" the girl twin chimed in. "Funny and beautiful." The short black haired Viking complimented her. "Good one, babe!" the overweight blond Viking said next. I couldn't help but pity those two poor souls. In my opinion, that girl wasn't exactly…charming.

"Yeah. Like babies. They always cry. Real tiny ones…" I heard the boy twin say before Drago made me look at him again. Now I was really beginning to panic!

"First there was one Rider, now _all of Berk_. And YOU led them to me!" he glared at me before flinging me across the deck! I landed on the unforgiving floor, the wind knocked out of me. "Drago…!" I yelped, scrambling to me feet as he stood upfront.

"Stop all preparations! We must attack the Dragon Rider's Nest at once! We will take down their Alpha and, then, we will take Berk!" Drago announced to the men, who all cheered. I glanced at Astrid, who was horrified when she realized that she had pretty much given Drago an idea where to invade next.

That's when I remembered Zenna. Her family lived on Berk!

"Drago!" I yelled, running up to him. He just looked at me coldly before looking at his men.

"_And get rid of him!_"

My blood ran cold.

"Oh, Drago please. I-" I stammered as the soldiers readied their weapons. That's when I realized that begging for mercy wasn't going to work this time. I was going to die…

That's when it happened.

One soldier had just flung his axe at me when Astrid's Deadly Nadder swooped in! Covering me with her massive scaly frame, Stormfly used her tail and wings to knock back any weapons the soldiers were throwing at me! I completely froze in shock.

She was protecting me!

But then, a tranquilizer dart hit Stormfly and she was down for the count!

"Stormfly!" Astrid cried out and the soldiers came to take her dragon away. "No!" I could only stand there in sheer shock as the Riders were taken away. I just couldn't believe that a dragon, of all things, had just saved my life…

Zenna's words suddenly came back to me…

'**Stryka is **_**not **_**a monster! She's my best dragon friend! My sister not by blood but by bond!**'

'_She was right…She was right about them all along…_' I thought as I realized that what she and Hiccup thought of the dragons was the right thing and the complete opposite of Drago's belief. Dragons weren't monsters that had to be frightened into submission so you can control them. They were creatures that had souls, emotions and should be seen as family, as _friends_!

But before I could even try to challenge Drago…the worst possible thing happened.

That stupid short Viking blabbed, "Man, _Zenna_ would seriously be hating you now Eret." Loud enough for Drago to hear. "Zenna? What kind of a name is that?" he leered at the team of Riders, who were suddenly brought back to him. I gave Astrid a pleading look. For a minute, our eyes locked and she saw my desperation. Drago could not, absolutely could_ not_, find out about Zenna!

But apparently her friends didn't see how dire the situation was.

"Zenna Fiersome. The _second _dragon master. Rider of the one-eyed Night Fury, Stryka." That black haired Viking from earlier said. "The Dragon Doctor of Berk. Most loyal follower of Hiccup and one of Berk's bravest and fiercest warriors." The big blond Viking chimed in. "She can beat any guy in any fight. She's an adventurer extraordinaire." The boy twin said next. "If you wanna know more, ask Eret here. She practically called him her _childhood sweetheart_." The girl twin added.

And that officially made things worse.

I nervously gulped as Drago looked at me, a devious grin on his scarred face.

"She sounds like a beauty, Eret…Pity that I'll have to get rid of her." He sneered. My heart nearly stopped. No, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening! "Looks like I won't have to kill you just yet. I'll let you see your '_childhood sweetheart_' again…_and I will make you watch as I slowly and painfully kill her and feed her remains to the dragons._" Drago threatened me, his eyes glinting in malice.

And just like that, something in me snapped.

With a fierce yell, I charged! Then those stupid soldiers caught me and had me tied up! I glared swords, dagger, spears and whatever deadly weapon I could think of at Drago as I was dragged away.

"You no-good, son of a…! If you so much as lay a finger on Zenna…! I swear to all the gods in Valhalla that _you'll _be the one experiencing a slow and painful death!" I yelled at Drago along with some more choice words before I saw him retire to his quarters.

My rage soon turned into fear. I knew Drago. He was brutal, ruthless and savage when it comes to eliminating any obstacle in his path. And he was truly a man with no conscience or mercy.

If he got his hands on Zenna…Odin knows what he'll do to her!

In the meantime, the soldiers threw us all in a large cell while they went to decide what our fate would be. Angry at myself and at Astrid and her friends, I stayed in a corner and punched the iron walls until my knuckles were sore. My fellow inmates were quietly discussing among themselves on what to do when Astrid came over to me.

"If you've come to apologize, _don't_. The last thing I wanna do right now is talk to you." I said harshly, turning away from her. I could feel Astrid's burning stare and I sighed in defeat, turning to face her. "What do you want?" I asked testily. "I think I'm starting to understand…" she said slowly. I rolled my eyes at her. "Oh, you do?" I asked sarcastically. "Well, maybe not completely…But I think I know now _why _you pushed Zenna away…_You were trying to protect her from Drago, weren't you_?" Astrid asked me softly.

I fell silent and just nodded.

"You really _do _love her…" Astrid said in amazement. I looked at her with a grave face. "I love her more than my own life…Now thanks to you guys, she's in danger…and I'll never get to ask her for forgiveness for what I've done…" I whispered, intense anger, fear and guilt filling my heart and I turned my back to Astrid…so she wouldn't see the tears in my eyes…

Then I felt Astrid's hand on my shoulder. I still didn't look at her but I heard her words, as clear as crystal.

"I've known Zenna for a long time, Eret. Sure, what you did to her was really hard on her…but I think, that if you show to her that you're sincere and tell her the truth on _why _you did what you did, she'll forgive you. You just need to find the right way to apologize to her…Figure out a way on how to say…_I'm sorry_."

I then heard Astrid's footsteps as she walked back to her friends. My hand went to my pin and I clutched it to my chest. If we managed to get out of here, the first thing I was gonna do was go look for Zenna. I'll find her and, before it's too late, apologize for pushing her away. Even if she didn't love me anymore, I just had to say two words in hope that she'll at least forgive me.

And those two words were…

_**I'm sorry…**_

**Zenna's POV**

I had another one of my dreams where Elias was there. This time we were alone in the Dragon Sanctuary, admiring the great Bewilderbeast from afar as dragons flew about. I smiled as Eli looked at the Alpha in awe.

"I'd never thought I'd see a _Dragon King _before…He's just so cool…no pun intended." Eli chuckled as the Bewilderbeast made a new wall of ice with his icy breath. "I wish you were still alive, Eli…You would have gotten a really cool dragon of your own, we'd challenge each other to Dragon Races…and…you'd be able to see our little brother or little sister be born soon and grow up…" I told him sadly. My dear big brother lovingly ruffled my hair. "Relax, sis. I can see everything that's happening to 'ya from up in Valhalla. Just promise me that if our new little sibling's a boy, add my name to his please?" he asked, giving me his best pleading look. "If you want, I'll name him Elias the _Second_." I said jokingly.

Truth be told, I had been planning to name our little sibling Elias II if it turned out to a boy after all.

"That sounds nice…" Eli smiled before looking at the Bewilderbeast. All of a sudden, his face turned solemn. "What's wrong?" I asked, a bit worried. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Zen…It's just that…I have this weird feeling that something bad is gonna happen…" Elias said, looking uneasy. "What do you mean something bad? Is someone going to die?" I asked, tilting my head. Eli sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure…I just can't shake the feeling that something bad _will _happen…" he shrugged before he looked at me and saw that I wasn't wearing the pendant.

"Hey, where'd your pendant go?" he asked, pointing at my neck. My face soured as I looked at the pool of water in the Sanctuary. "I threw it away. Eret turned out to be a Dragon Trapper. Why would I want to keep something that belonged to a no-good liar like him?" I scowled. "Don't tell me that you don't love him anymore, Zen. I know you still do." Elias smirked. "I'm serious, Eli. I don't! Not anymore!" I said in defense.

But was I _really _over Eret now? For some reason, something in my heart told me otherwise…

"I hate him, Eli. He lied to me and he broke his promise. He said he'd come find me. But he never did. He was too busy working for Drago." I said coldly. Elias gently placed his hand on my shoulder and looked at me gently. "You hate Eret for what he did, Zenna. Not for who he is. You know him better than anyone. And I'm sure that he's still that same guy who was my mentor and who was the guy you fell for." He said softly.

At this point, I was annoyed. "How do you know for sure? Eret and I've been apart for 12 years, Eli! A lot of things have changed since then!" I exclaimed. Elias merely moved his hand from my shoulder and rested it on my chest. "A lot of things, yes…But your heart and Eret's haven't. Zen…I know you're hurting because Eret pushed you away. But you gotta ask yourself…why did he do that? He must have had reasons…Maybe one of those reasons was that he wanted to protect you." He told me in a sagely tone.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Protect me from what?" I asked him. "From Drago, obviously." Elias simply stated. I fell silent at that point and looked at the Dragon Sanctuary. Thinking about Drago, I got worried on what he would do to this lovely dragon paradise…

Plus, I guess Elias made sense…If Drago really was a ruthless person, Eret must have been so scared to know that I was going to accompany Hiccup to go talk diplomacy with him. And pushing me away must have been the only way he could think of to keep Drago away from me…But I was still so troubled and unsure that I didn't even know what to do anymore…

"A word of advice, Zen: Try to hear _Eret's _side of the story…before you close the doors of your heart to him. Chances are that he's still hoping that they're open…I'm positive that he still loves you…as much as _you _still love him." Saying this, Elias gently kissed my forehead and let me lean against his shoulder. I suddenly felt sleepy and closed my eye.

"Still…I just can't shake the feeling that something's going to happen and that it's bad. Whatever happens, Zen…_you and Hiccup be careful_…" Elias whispered to me as I fell asleep.

I suddenly woke up to find Hiccup still asleep and his arms loosely wrapped around me. Careful so as not to wake him, I gently wriggled out of his arms. The dream was still vivid in my mind and I couldn't sleep anymore because of it.

Apart from Elias' uneasy feelings of bad things happening, both my heart and mind were still troubled over Eret. I just didn't know what kind of relationship we shared anymore…

Finally, I decided to go for a little walk around the Sanctuary to try and clear my head. I wandered about aimlessly for a while until I came to where Hiccup and I had met the Bewilderbeast earlier. Every dragon was roosting somewhere, already asleep and the Alpha looked like he was sleeping as well. Sighing I sat down at the edge and just stared at the water. But suddenly, the Bewilderbeast's icy blue eyes opened. He turned his head towards me, regarded me for a few minutes before dipping his tusks into the water. I watched as he rooted around the water, as if looking for something.

Then he rose up and brought his massive head close to me…and my pendant was hanging from one of his tusks. I stared at the Bewilderbeast and the pendant for a few minutes, not sure on what to do. The Bewilderbeast rumbled softly, as if asking me to please take my pendant back. Cautiously I took the pendant back.

"Thank you, your Dragon Highness…" I said politely. Satisfied, the Bewilderbeast went back to sleep. I looked at my pendant, lost in thought until I heard the sound of footsteps approach.

"Are you alright?"

It was Valka.

"Honestly, Ms. Valka…I'm not sure…" I admitted as she sat beside me. "Something on your mind, my dear?" she asked me. "I guess you can say that…" I replied. Valka looked at my pendant curiously. "I threw it into the water earlier. The Alpha gave it back to me…" I told her. She didn't ask why, but I had a feeling she knew why. And she should, because I had heard her and Hiccup talking earlier.

Then I remembered that Valka knew Eret. Maybe she could tell me a little more about him…or at least how and when he became a Dragon Trapper.

"Hey, Ms. Valka…Since you've been saving dragons from Drago for 20 years, I assume that you know some of his trappers…specifically someone named Eret?" I asked curiously. "Son of Eret, as he calls himself. Aye, I know him. The poor lad…the first time I saw him, he was only a young lad. Fourteen years old and fearfully standing beside his father when Drago summoned them." Valka answered.

"Summoned them? What do you mean, Ms. Valka?" I asked, confused. That's when I remembered what Heather had told me and the letter she had given me five years ago. Eret had left the South with his father a year after me because of some new job opportunity. Now I knew what that job opportunity was…

"His father had been hired to work for Drago. But they had no idea that they were to trap dragons. So, when his father staunchly refused to accept Drago's offer Eret…" Valka suddenly trailed off. A knot formed in my stomach as I began to get a feeling of heavy dread.

"I wanted to help so badly, but I couldn't afford to take any risks if I ended up captured…But I saw the men take Eret away from his father…_and forced him to watch Drago kill him._ All because he refused Drago, Eret's father was murdered right in front of his son." Valka said sadly.

I gasped in horror and felt faint. Drago had killed Eret's Dad…murdered him…

And Eret, who was only fourteen, had been forced to watch it all…

"H-he wh-what?" I stammered out, still in shock. Valka sadly shook her head. "I can sometimes still hear the lad's anguished screams as Drago murdered his father and threw his remains into the frigid waters. Poor Eret…orphaned just like that. That day, I saw in his eyes sorrow and fear so intense that it broke my heart. No one should ever lose a father like that…and after that, Drago basically forced him into the job his father had refused to take. He didn't have a choice. It was either work for Drago or lose his life." She told me.

Guilt washed over me like a waterfall. All this time…all this time Eret had been through a proverbial Helheim all alone…

"S-so you don't really hate him?" I asked tentatively. Valka nodded. "I hate what he does, Zenna. But I don't hate him for who he is. Eret serves Drago out of fear. And sometimes when we had crossed paths with each other, I still saw in those eyes of his the terrified, grieving young lad mourning his father…wanting nothing more than to escape the hell of a life that he's living…" Valka said, sighing deeply.

"Oh gods…oh gods…" I whimpered before bursting into tears. "He was your childhood sweetheart." Valka stated before gently embracing me. "I heard you and Hiccup talking earlier…" I confessed, still sobbing. Valka held me like I was a little child wanting her mama. In full honesty, she was a lot like Mom. "I never knew…I never knew that he had been through so much without me…I never knew until now…And I decided to hate him. He broke my heart but I also broke his…What do I do now?" I asked myself, feeling nothing but distress. Valka lovingly brushed my bangs away from my face. "You follow your heart, my dear. Follow your heart…it will lead you to him…then you two can talk and work things out." She told me gently.

I sniffled and stopped crying. Valka was right. I just had to follow my heart. I'll find Eret. I'll find him and say how sorry I am for not understanding…for leaving him.

"Thank you…" I said softly. Valka smiled at me. "Hiccup's told me so much about you. I found out from him that you had always been by his side from the day you two met. He told me about your brother as well…It's such a shame that he died early…Elias sounds like he was such a wonderful young man." She said. "The best big brother a girl could ever ask for…and he had this idea of the people from our village making peace with the dragons. He died before he could try. Hiccup and I tried for him…and we succeeded." I said, smiling sadly as I remembered my and Elias' special phrase.

_If we can tame 'em, we can train 'em…_

"Aye. You two did. And it was all you two, Zenna. I'm sure Elias thinks so too. He had the premonition, yes. But, in the end, you and my son did everything. And, Zenna…I can never tell you how thankful I am for you always being there for Hiccup. Where I had left an empty space in his heart, you filled it up with your love for him as his sister. Really, Zenna…_thank you_." Valka said gratefully. I blushed a bit. "Thank you…_Auntie Valka_." I said shyly, seeing that my best friend's mother saw me as family and I figured that it'd be best to call her that from now on because that's how I saw Valka as well. She was family.

"If you came back to Berk with us, Auntie Valka, Stoick and everyone else on Berk would be so happy. And I'm sure my parents would be thrilled to meet you. Will you do it? Will you come back to Berk with us?" I asked Auntie Valka hopefully. She smiled a bit. "I'll think about it, Zenna. Now you should go back to sleep. It's another new day tomorrow." She advised me. "Yes, Auntie Valka! Good night!" I chirped, going back to bed.

I was feeling slightly better now. I now knew what I had to do. Follow my heart, find Eret…and figure out how to say two words that could save what was left of our relationship.

_**I'm sorry…**_

**Worked pretty hard on this. Hope you all like it ;)**


	10. A Reunion and An Escape

**Hey-o :D**

**GuardianDragon98 here with another chapter for HTTYD2! My mind's been bursting with so many ideas that I can't completely write down right away but I'm planning on a new story along with my updates to Dragons: Riders and Defenders of Berk and HTTYD2. I'm gonna start typing it on December 1 and I hope to post the first few chapters before the end of the year **

**Eitherway, enjoy this update and feel free to read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own HTTYD, HTTYD2, the series or anything HTTYD-related here. All rights go to DreamWorks Animation, Cressida Cowell, Dean DeBlois and all respective owners.**

**Chapter 10: A Reunion and An Escape**

**Zenna's POV**

The very next morning, Hiccup and I got ready to head out. Hiccup still wanted to go talk to Drago and I couldn't really persuade him to do something else so I just decided to confer to his good judgement…and basically just follow him into foreseeable danger. Stryka and Toothless were busy taking naps when the baby Scuttleclaws came in, wanting to play.

"Well, bud, we can't wait around for Drago to find this place. We've gotta find him first." Hiccup said, determined, as he folded up his flight suit's wings. "I still think that this might be unsafe, Hicc. But, you do have a point. We can't let Drago find the Sanctuary." I said in agreement, readying my supplies. Toothless and Stryka were now growling at the Scuttleclaws to shoo them off. Two rather rambunctious ones, however, decided to chew on their tails!

"Alright, you two. Shoo now!" I chided the babies, waving them off while Toothless and Stryka growled at them, peeved. Hiccup smiled and then said, "Let's go!"

Suddenly two meaty hands covered our mouths! Hiccup and I both tried to scream for help but the hands muffled them out. Toothless and Stryka quickly got into protective positions but, then, the four of us realized that it was _Stoick!_

"Easy now." Stoick commanded them both. "Are you kidding me? How'd you get in here?" Hiccup asked him, shocked and worried. In response, Stoick handed him his riding helmet and gave me my shield. "You had Skullcrusher track us down?" I asked nervously as I strapped it onto Stryka's saddle, with more ropes to secure it.

"The same way we're getting you two out." Stoick told Hiccup and then nodded to my question. "_We?_" Hiccup and I both asked, confused. Then I thought of my parents.

'_Oh Thor, they better not be here! Mom's pregnant for crying out loud!_' I thought, beginning to panic. That's when we noticed Gobber, hiding in the tunnel's arch. "All clear!" he waved to Stoick. "Toothless, Stryka, come." Stoick commanded our two Night Furies and followed Gobber into the tunnel. Hiccup and I had no choice but to follow. But then, I managed to get them all to stop.

"Hold on! Stoick, Gobber…are my parents with you two as well?" I asked loudly. "Of course not, Zenna! It's too dangerous for your mother. And your father also has to take care of her." Gobber shook his head. "I got them to return to Berk. Don't worry, Zenna, they're both safe." Stoick told me. "Thank you Odin!" I breathed out in relief.

That's when I remembered something extremely important along with Hiccup.

'_Auntie Valka! Stoick! Holy Shields!_' I thought as I gave Hiccup a nervous look. He immediately got the message. "Dad! There's something you need to know!" he called after his father as we crept through the narrow passageways. "Yeah, yeah, tell me on the way." Stoick said dismissively. "Sir, this is kind of something that cannot really be…fully explained along the way." I piped up as I ducked to avoid banging my head on a rock.

"This isn't an on-the-way kind of update, actually…" Hiccup continued to say as we went on. "I've heard enough, Hiccup and Zenna." Stoick grunted as he squeezed through. "…more of the earth-shattering development variety." Hiccup continued while I chimed in with, "This news will probably…give you something akin to a heart attack but don't worry. I know how to do CPR so you'll be fine after you find out…"

Okay, not exactly a good way to try and explain to your Chief that his long thought-to-be-dead wife has actually been alive all along but hey! Hiccup and I were getting pretty desperate since we were fast approaching the area where we knew Valka was right now!

"Yeah, just add it to the pile." Stoick told us. "Dad, unlike most surprises I spring on you-this one you'll like. I promise. You just have to handle it _delicately_." Hiccup said, even more frantic as we neared the tunnel's end! "He's right, Chief. You just need to keep an open mind." I added, just as we bumped into Gobber. When he turned to face us, Hiccup and I didn't even need to ask.

He had seen her.

"Ah, you might want to take this one." He mumbled before plopping down onto a chunk of ice, looking winded. "Oh boy…" our two-limbed blacksmith friend breathed out, reeling from shock. Then Stoick got the wrong idea and drew his sword! "Uh, Chief, violence isn't really needed here!" I squeaked worriedly. "Oh, Dad, put the sword away please." Hiccup pleaded with his father. Stoick ignored us and went in to take a look.

A gasp came from him once he, along with me and Hiccup, saw Valka with the dragons.

'_Da-da-da, here it comes…_' I thought as me, Gobber and Hiccup came out from behind Stoick, who had dropped his sword. I looked up at my Chief and could see pure shock, amazement and confusion written on his face as he quickly took off his helmet. Valka stood straight and tall, with a somewhat terrified expression on her face. But who could blame her? For all we knew, Stoick might very well be enraged at all of this. I mean, he thought his wife had been gone for 20 years and now he knew that it wasn't true! In such cases, anger would be the most common way to react.

"I know what you're going to say, Stoick. How could I have done this? Stayed away all these years and why haven't I come back to you? To our son?" she asked. Stoick could only stare at her, dumbstruck. "Well, what sign did I have that you could change? That anyone on Berk could? I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting, to find another answer, but did any of you listen?" she continued as Stoick began to walk over to her.

"This is why I never married, this and one other reason." Gobber mumbled to us. Hiccup and I could only give him quizzical looks while anxiously watching the events unfolding in front of us now. Then and there, I saw that Valka was a whole lot like Hiccup. She tried to do things different and nobody had really seen her way as good. She was like Hiccup before…_different_.

I suddenly felt Hiccup grab my hand and squeeze it. I glanced at him and I saw that he was extremely worried. I knew what he was afraid of: that his father would get mad at his mother and his family won't be really reunited.

Valka was now fearfully backing away as Stoick advanced. "I know I left you to raise Hiccup alone but I thought he'd be better off without me. And I was wrong, I see that now but…" she said as she backed up to an ice wall.

My heart was pounding and so was Hiccup's.

_What now…?_

"Oh, stop being so stoic, Stoick. Go on, shout, scream, _say something!_" At Valka's words, my heart broke once more. Oh Thor, please don't let the same thing I had gone through with Eret happen to Hiccup's parents.

Then, we all heard Stoick whisper…

"_You're as beautiful as the day I lost you…_"

Hiccup released my hand and we both breathed out _huge _sighs of relief. We then saw Valka drop her staff…as she and her husband shared a sweet, sweet kiss.

"Wow…better than my own reunion…" I muttered to myself, feeling a slight pang of envy. They've been husband and wife and had probably had more than _one _kiss. Me? I'm not even sure if I'll ever have a _second _one!

But I pushed those thoughts aside once I saw how happy Hiccup was. A small tear of joy slid down his cheek and he had the biggest grin on his face. He must've dreamt of this moment for so many years and, now, it was finally real.

_His family was reunited…_

* * *

><p><strong>Eret's POV<strong>

We'd been in our prison for one hour, which gave me enough time to pick up on the names of Astrid's friends.

The black haired short guy with a Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang was called Snotlout. The chubby blond Rider was Fishlegs and his dragon was the Gronckle, Meatlug. And the Twins that shared a Hideous Zippleback named Barf and Belch, were Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Tuffnut's the boy and Ruffnut…is the freaky girl.

I had just memorized all those strange and embarrassing names when Drago's men came to get us. Our punishment? Walk the plank, the most cliché way to die on a ship.

"Could this day get any worse?" I heard Snotlout complain as one of the soldiers shoved me forward onto the edge of the ship. "Ah, let me check…we're going to jump into freezing cold water and, then, die from drowning." Tuffnut replied sarcastically. My brain was going into overdrive as I figured out a way to escape. Now that I knew that Drago had just been using me as a pawn, there was _**no way**_ I was going to let him get to the Dragon Rider's nest, destroy it, take down the Alpha Bewilderbeast, go to Berk in order to lay siege to it…and lay a finger on Zenna.

"Looks refreshing." I quipped before turning around to look at Astrid. "Please, ladies first." I told her in mock courtesy. She, on the other hand, did not look amused. But she didn't know that I already had a plan to bust us out of here. "You are a steaming heap of dragon-" she managed to say to me before I put my plan into action.

"_Duck!_" I whispered to her urgently. She, thankfully, obeyed and that gave me the opportunity to roundhouse kick the soldiers unconscious! One of the spears sailed through the air and I expertly caught it with my hands _literally _tied behind my back, before using it to free myself.

"Warn the others!" the soldiers yelled as the chaos began. "Get 'em, you son of an Eret!" Ruffnut cheered me on. I gladly obliged in giving her and her friends a demonstration of my fighting skills. I knocked the soldiers' weapons out of their hands and used them to take the men down. One soldier tried to escape but I quickly grabbed a dart launcher and sent one into his neck. He tottered one, two, three steps before passing out just inches away from the captain's quarters.

Eret, Son of Eret - 1, Drago and his soldiers - 0.

'_The boys back in the South would be damn proud…_' I thought, smiling proudly as I assisted Astrid and her friends.

"Okay, I love you again." Ruffnut told me, making me roll my eyes. "Ah, pathetic, you can still jump." Tuffnut then said to Snotlout, who looked crestfallen. I had to admit that a lot of girls have swooned over me. But…I only had eyes for one lady my whole life. And, right now, I need to find her.

"So, are we going to save your dragons and get out of here or not?" I asked Astrid, smirking slightly. She just smiled coolly, impressed. "Check every trap, they're here somewhere." I instructed the Dragon Riders as I cut Tuffnut's ropes. "We need to split up. We'll cover more ground that way." Fishlegs suggested. Almost instantly, Ruffnut latched onto my arm. "I'm going with him!" she all but squealed, her brother shushing her up.

I saw Fishlegs and Snotlout visibly get upset while Astrid just smiled mischievously. Oh, if this was her idea of getting back at me for everything, real mature!

"Let's go!" she said and we all split up.

Let me tell you, having Ruffnut as a partner…is almost equivalent to Drago's torture. She just kept staring at me with a look that was similar to a predator hungrily stalking its prey and whenever I tried to have a normal conversation with her, she'd just keep staring at me. Honestly she's pretty shallow when it comes to falling in love, in my opinion.

But I had to admit she was quick in learning how to disable the traps and assisted me in checking every one until we found Stormfly's. I quickly got to work cranking to open the Nadder trap while Ruffnut kept watch.

"Anyone coming?" I grunted, speeding up a little to save some time. "I don't know. You just keep doing what you're doing…That's right…keep cranking…" she just said dreamily, eyeing my arms and not even bothering to look over her shoulder for trouble!

'_Thor Almighty, how can Zenna be friends with someone as cuckoo as her?_' I thought as I got the trap to open and climbed into it.

Stormfly was completely trussed up and she looked up at me as I approached her. My heart was beating so hard, I was afraid it'd jump out of my chest. As grateful as I was to her, I still felt nervous. How was I supposed to approach her when I'd been trying to capture her all this time?

Carefully I held out my hand and took a few steps towards her. All the while Stormfly kept her eyes locked on me and stayed calm. Finally, my hand hovered over her muzzle. Taking a deep breath, I said to her, "Thank you for saving my life."

Stormfly then gently nosed her muzzle into my palm. I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of awe and relief. I'd wrangled dragons for almost 11 years and I almost forgot about how amazing they were…If this was how Zenna met her dragon, Stryka, words could not express the sheer amazement of it all. I felt like Stormfly and I had a bond. Sure she was Astrid's dragon, but it really felt like it.

"Now, let me return the favor." I told her, drawing my sword and using it to cut her free from the ropes. Once she was free, Stormfly crooned and gave me a playful nudge. "You're welcome, Stormfly." I smiled as we got out. Ruffnut grinned once we landed. "Alright, now let's get your Zippleback." I told Ruffnut who tried to hug me. Luckily Stormfly stepped in with a warning growl. Again, I found myself thanking her.

The three of us ran about, looking for Barf and Belch. At one point, I decided to take a chance and ask Ruffnut a question. "So, you're a friend of Hiccup and Zenna's?" I asked cautiously. "Yeah." Ruffnut said, sounding normal-ish for once. "And they're really close?" I asked, wondering if Zenna really had found someone else now. "You rarely see one without the other. They're practically _brother and sister_." Ruffnut answered.

We were still running when I skidded to a stop once I heard the words '_brother and sister_'. Hold on, what did _that _mean?

"Wait…so…Hiccup's…_not_ Zenna's boyfriend?" I asked Ruffnut slowly. "No. Hiccup is _Astrid's _boyfriend." Ruffnut told me. Oh gods, I now felt like a first-class idiot. I could practically feel my face grow hot with embarrassment. Stormfly must have noticed because she gave me a confused warble and licked my face! Ruffnut, on the other hand, looked passive.

"Gods, I am so stupid…" I muttered to myself. "Nah, it's okay. Back when Zenna was suffering from depression, a lot of people thought that she and Hiccup were a couple." Ruffnut shrugged. I raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. "What does Zenna's depression have to do with her and Hiccup? And since when did Zenna get depressed? She's usually always so cheerful." I said in shock. Ruffnut looked thoughtful for a few minutes before she finally got her thoughts organized.

"Well, when Elias died in a dragon raid eight years ago…Zen completely lost it. She was still there, but it was like she _wasn't _there at the same time. She didn't talk, didn't smile, laugh…she just stayed away from all of us and isolated herself. Losing Eli…it broke her." She began. I then felt a whole 12 years' worth of guilt. Elias died when he was only thirteen…_thirteen!_ And I wasn't there for Zenna when she needed me most…Elias was her big brother, her role model and idol. She looked up to him. As for me, Eli had always been one of my best trainees. And he was a really good friend, despite our age-gap. We were even like brothers!

"We all tried to cheer her up. But no one tried harder than Hiccup. He was always there for her during those times. And at one point, Zen's depression got so bad that she had to move in with Gothi, our healer, for a little while. Hiccup immediately begged his Dad to let him move in with her. When Stoick allowed him, Hiccup he…well, he basically became like Elias. He officially became Zenna's _surrogate _brother." Ruffnut continued, putting emphasis on her last sentence.

"Why did Zenna have to move in with the healer? Couldn't her parents have taken care of her?" I asked, confused. "She needed to be closely watched. From what I remember, I heard rumors that Zenna had snuck out of the house one night in order to try committing suicide." Ruffnut told me.

I swear I nearly had a heart attack when I heard that last part.

"She tried to do _what?!_" I nearly screamed in shock. "She tried to…" Ruffnut began to repeat dumbly before I cut her off. "I was asking a rhetorical question!" I exclaimed, trying not to freak myself out. Odin, was Zenna really _that_ depressed? I was now feeling complete guilt at this point. "But it-it's okay! Hiccup saved her before it was too late. And then, he made sure to always stay by her side and took care of her. When everyone gave up, including Zenna herself, Hiccup didn't and watched over Zenna as if she were really his sister." Ruffnut said quickly, calming me down slightly. Once I calmed a bit, I felt a deep sense of gratitude towards Hiccup. When I wasn't there to comfort Zenna, he was with her the whole time and took care of her…Remind me to pledge loyalty to him when he becomes Chief of Berk!

"Zenna got better soon after that. And ever since then, she's made it her life's vow to always have Hiccup's back. And…I'll be honest with you, Eret. Hiccup wasn't always my friend. To tell you the truth, me, Tuff, Snotface, 'Legs and Astrid? We wouldn't even so much as _notice_ Hiccup when we were growing up! He was still, well, a hiccup, a runt. If we ever noticed him, it was to pick on him or beat him up. But Elias and Zenna? The three of them became, like, instant best friends the very day Zenna and her family moved in. They did everything together…they took care of each other. And like I said before, they always had each other's backs." Ruffnut concluded.

I was silent for a couple of minutes to process all this new information. All this time I had it all wrong! Yes, I saw that Hiccup and Zenna loved each other very much but I failed to see that it wasn't romantic love! It was the kind of love I had seen in Elias for Zenna…it was the love of a brother for his sister…It was love for _family…_

Finally I looked at Ruffnut and gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Ruffnut. For helping me out." I told her gratefully. "You're very much welcome, Eret, Son of Eret." She replied, the familiar love struck look coming back. Cautiously backing away and making sure that Stormfly was between me and her, I hurried on ahead to get the dragons freed.

I just hoped that we were gonna make it in time to stop Drago and his crazy schemes!

**What do u guys think? Please read and review. Pretty please with chocolate and strawberries on top? (I then nod to Stryka who gives you guys the puppy dog eye look :D)**


	11. For the Dancing and the Dreaming

**Hi guys ;)**

**GuardianDragon98 here with another update for HTTYD2. As for Riders and Defenders of Berk, I'll be posting Thawfest next weekend. I'll work hard to finish it ;)**

**Also, I'm planning on creating a new HTTYD story co-authored by my good friend, WolfWitchHuntress1318. It'll be something to look forward to but, in the meantime, enjoy this ;)**

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do NOT own HTTYD, HTTYD 2, Dragons: Riders and Defenders of Berk OR the lyrics of "For the Dancing and the Dreaming" which is owned by the amazing John Powell. All rights for everything go to their respective owners.**

**Chapter 11: For the Dancing and the Dreaming**

**Zenna's POV**

Back in the Dragon Sanctuary, all of us were having a well-deserved meal. Valka cooked fish while Stoick, Hiccup and I assisted her. All throughout, Hiccup told his mother of all the new developments in Berk.

"Mom, you'd never even recognize it. Where we used to make weapons, we now build saddles, wing slings…we…we even fix dragon's teeth! And Zenna here has a clinic right next door where she can treat any injury or malady, Viking or dragon. You wouldn't believe how much everything's changed." Hiccup said excitedly. Stoick chuckled slightly. "Your son and Zenna have changed Berk for the better. I think we did well with this one, Val." He smiled. "Thanks, Dad." Hiccup smiled.

But then I noticed that Valka was still on edge. And when Stoick gently placed his hands on her shoulders, she yelped in fright and accidentally dropped the fish. Toothless and Stryka were about to go for the dropped bounty when Cloudjumper beat them to it! I laughed as Toothless and Stryka looked at Cloudjumper with pleading eyes. Then, I wrinkled my nose in slight disgust as Cloudjumper regurgitated a slimy mass of fish for them to slurp up. Even up to this day, I still had no idea why dragons like sharing their fish regurgitated sometimes…

"Oh, ha-ha-ha. I got it." Stoick chuckled as he helped Valka fix up a new plate. "I'm a little out of practice." Valka admitted, a little embarrassed. "Well, you know…I didn't marry you for your cooking." Stoick winked at her.

Gobber had a slightly nervous look as Stoick said this. "I hope not. Her meatballs can kill more beasts than a battle axe. I've still got a few noggin around in here." Our blacksmith friend told me and Hiccup, patting his stomach as we gave him some of the fish. "It's that bad?" I raised an eyebrow as Gobber and I both decided to taste Valka's cooking. Almost instantly we put the rest of the fish in Grump's mouth.

Auntie Valka's cooking, I'm afraid, tasted _almost _as bad as _Astrid's_! (_Don't tell anyone I said that_).

Hiccup was far too excited at seeing his family back together that he didn't even eat for he was too busy talking. "And once you move back in with all your dragons, oh, Drago won't stand a chance. _Everything will be okay!_" he said happily. "You think we'll have enough room in the stables, Hicc?" I asked jokingly. Stoick chuckled at our little banter. "Slow down, you two. It's a lot to take in." he advised us.

"Oh, gotcha." Hiccup said, a bit sheepish. I just watched as Valka silently held up a clay pot to a melting icicle in order to get water when Stoick started…_whistling_.

And not just an ordinary whistle. This whistle sounded like…the beginning of a song.

"Oh, I love this one." Gobber grinned as Hiccup and I sat down to listen and watch.

"Remember our song, Val?" Stoick asked Valka when he had stopped whistling…before singing…

"_I'll swim and sail on savage seas. With ne'er fear of drowning, and gladly ride the waves of life…if you will marry me…_"

Hiccup and I could only look on in amazement. Stoick gently caressed Valka's face as he continued singing…

"_No scorching sun, nor freezing cold will stop-_"

That's when Gobber interrupted by singing, "Will stop me on my journey!" in an off-key tone. Hiccup and I could only give him our best _Really? _Faces while Stoick slightly glared at him. "Sorry…" Gobber apologized, shutting up. "_If you will promise me your…heart…_" Stoick restarted, taking Valka's hand in his.

"_And love…and…_" Stoick then trailed off.

I watched Valka closely. She looked rather troubled. But I guess it was understandable. This was the first time she had seen her husband in years…she must still be too overwhelmed by all of this…

"_And love me for eternity…_"

We all perked up once we finally heard her sing. Valka turned and began to sing as well…

"_My dearest one, my darling dear, your mighty words astound me. But I've no need of mighty deeds when I feel your arms around me._" She sang just as she and Stoick began to dance.

Stoick had the biggest smile on his face as he sang, "_But I would bring you rings of gold. I'd even sing you poetry._" Valka laughed, "Oh, would you?" Stoick grinned. "_And I would keep you from all harm, if you would stay beside me._" He sang. "_I have no use for rings of gold. I care not for your poetry. I only want your hand to hold_." Valka sang in return as she and Stoick danced about. "_I only want you near me!_" Stoick crooned.

Gobber's peg leg tapped to the rhythm and pretty soon, he started dancing and pulled me and Hiccup into his jig as well! Awkwardly embarrassing as it was for the both of us, Hiccup and I were having fun. We even shared a dance as Stoick and Valka sang.

"_To love, to kiss, to sweetly hold_

_For the Dancing and the Dreaming_

_Through all life's sorrows and delights_

_I'll keep your love inside me_

_I'll swim and sail on savage seas_

_With ne'er a fear of drowning_

_And gladly ride the waves of life_

_If you will marry me!_"

Hiccup and I had stopped dancing and were both breathless and happy. Gobber, on the other hand, belted out, "_Me-eee-e…I'm still goin'…_" that made Toothless and Stryka cover their ear plates and moan in distress. It took me and Hiccup both patting him on the side to get him to stop. "I'm done." He said sheepishly.

Stoick and Valka embraced each other, the two of them filled with joy. "I thought I'd have to die before we done that dance again." Stoick told Valka. "No need for drastic measures." She laughed. "For you my dear…" Stoick said before getting down on one knee. "_Anything._" He said gently.

My heart filled with joy once I realized what was happening. '_He's gonna ask her to come back to Berk with us! Auntie Valka, please say yes! Say yes!_' I mentally squealed excitedly.

"Will you come home, Val? Will you be my wife once again?" Stoick earnestly asked her. Valka looked surprised but had a smile on her face, nonetheless. That's when Toothless and Stryka took matters into their own paws. While Stryka kept Stoick up, Toothless gently pushed Valka into his embrace, making them both laugh along with me and Hiccup. My one-legged best human friend and surrogate brother joined his family in the reunion while I stayed back with Gobber.

Hey, I know I'm like Hiccup's sister and all but that didn't mean I wasn't a Haddock through and through. I am a Fiersome and will always be a Fiersome and I know my place.

"We can be a family, what do you say?" Stoick asked hopefully. Auntie Valka only needed a second to decide. "Yes." She replied happily. Hiccup, oh Odin, he had the biggest and most adorable smile on his face. I grinned from ear to ear as Gobber brought me into the huddle with him.

"Great! Zenna and I will do the cooking!" he cheerfully announced, making us all laugh. I looked at Hiccup and his whole family and smiled. "Odin has smiled upon you three today. Think of the feast that will be thrown in your honor, Auntie Valka! Everyone will be so happy to see you!" I said joyfully. "It looks our daughter is on to something." Stoick chuckled. That made me look at him in surprise. "Daughter, sir? I-I don't understand…" I mumbled, a bit confused. "Zen, like it or not, you're part of this family now too." Hiccup told me, putting his arm around me. "You're an honorary Haddock now, Zenna." Stoick smiled at me. I couldn't help but feel my heart swell with love. I now had two families I was a part of. "Does that mean I have to call you guys Mom and Dad now, too?" I asked jokingly. "Just Auntie Valka and Uncle Stoick will do fine, Zenna." Auntie Valka told me, lovingly brushing my bangs away from my face.

Hiccup and I looked at each other and grinned. We'd always thought of each other as brother and sister and now, it looks like we were officially siblings.

"Thank Odin you and Zenna didn't listen to me, son. We never would've found each other." Stoick chuckled as he and Valka went to continue preparing the food. Suddenly Toothless and Stryka growled as they looked off into the distance of the Sanctuary.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked, concerned. "Stryka, what is it?" I asked before we all noticed that all of the dragons in the Sanctuary were flying out. I got a sudden sense of dread in my gut. If this was the bad thing Elias had been warning me about…Holy Shields…this cannot be good.

Auntie Valka immediately ran off and I followed her. Outside, ice was falling all around and when we looked down below, we found out why. Hundreds, no, thousands of warships were out in the sea. Soldiers were firing all kinds of explosives and catapult rounds at the Dragon Sanctuary's icy exterior. Then I saw the dragon traps, which could have meant only one thing.

_Drago had arrived_...

**Sorry if this chapter's kind of short. I still have a lot to do before Christmas break comes in a few weeks.**


	12. Drago Attacks We Fight Back!

**Hey guys. Another update! At this moment, I'm currently at a hotel waiting for Typhoon Ruby to pass over our area so we can go home…Anyways, read and review.**

**Note: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING.**

**Chapter 12: Drago Attacks; We Fight Back!**

**Zenna's POV**

I could only stare at the battlefield down below, my eye wide in horror. Hiccup, Stoick and Gobber soon caught up with me and Auntie Valka to see the horror themselves. "Oh no…" Hiccup said worriedly. Auntie Valka looked furious and stormed off. "Val, Val. It's alright, alright. We're a team now. Now what do you want to do?" Stoick asked her in concern. "We have to save the dragons." Valka said seriously. "Aye. You got it. Come on, son. You too, Zenna." Stoick turned to us, his face grave.

"Look out, Drago. We're coming to get you!" I said, readying my battle sticks. Mounting all of our dragons, we prepared to fight. I even had the chance to alert the Alpha Bewilderbeast.

"Your Sanctuary is in danger, Your Dragon Highness! Now is the time to fight!" I told him. He looked at me for a few seconds before rising and letting loose an almighty bellow! "That's the spirit!" I grinned before I joined Hiccup, Stoick and Gobber. Valka will join us later, with the Alpha.

The battle was about to begin!

**Eret's POV**

"Whatever comes, keep hitting the mountain. We need to draw the Alpha out."

Even through the mad chaotic sounds of explosives and catapults getting fired outside, I heard Drago's words loud and clear. My heart thudded in my chest but I willed myself to be brave. I was going to fight for the right side this time. And I can't back down now!

"Ready the traps!"

Then I heard the definite hiss of Zippleback gas and saw faint wisps of it from the trap Stormfly and I were hiding in. "That's our cue, girl." I whispered to Stormfly. She squawked and, as soon as the Zippleback gas ignited, we flew out of the trap! "SURPRISE! YEAH!" I saw Tuffnut holler on his Zippleback head, Belch's, head while I struggled to hang on tight.

It wasn't easy. Dragon riding wasn't like dragon trapping _at all!_

"WHAT?!" Drago looked royally pissed off. "Woo-oo-oo!" Fishlegs yelled in defiance. That's when I saw Astrid riding on Meatlug with Fishlegs. "You really are full of surprises!" she exclaimed, grinning at me before getting on Stormfly behind me. "Let's go!" she shouted and we sped up to help the dragons.

Dragons, from the Nest or from Drago's own army, were everywhere! We all worked together to free any trapped dragons as well as destroy every trap we could destroy.

"Dragon Riders coming through!" Tuffnut laughed gleefully as he and Ruffnut destroyed some of the catapults. "Fire!" Fishlegs yelled as Meatlug fired a lava blast. Stormfly played a huge part since she ignited the gas Barf, Ruffnut's Zippleback head, spewed out. "Woah-ho-ho! Yeah!" Tuffnut whooped.

I gulped as I heard Drago yell, "Cut. Them. Down!" as the nets were fired. One net nearly hit the Twins, knocking Ruffnut off! "Ahh! Eret, Son of Eret!" she yelled as she fell. Luckily, both Snotlout and Fishlegs caught her. And, judging by how happy she looked with them rescuing her, Ruffnut was over me.

'_Thank you, Odin, Thor and all gods in Valhalla!_' I thought, gratefully looking up to the skies for a second. Now Astrid and I had to avoid getting hit with the nets ourselves!

"Up, girl! Lean left, Eret!" Astrid instructed me and Stormfly. I did the best I could and guided Stormfly in avoiding both the nets and the ice spires. "That's it!" Astrid told us encouragingly. But when a large icicle began to fall on us, I couldn't swerve Stormfly away from it! "Look out!" Astrid yelled in alarm.

Suddenly the icicle got blasted into smithereens! It only took me one second to realize that our saviors were none other than Hiccup…and Zenna. And with them were Stoick and Gobber the blacksmith on their Rumblehorn and Hotburple.

Then something happened.

One of Drago's armored dragons rammed into Stryka…and the impact sent Zenna flying off of the saddle!

"AAAAHHH! HEEELLPPP!" Zenna screamed. "ZEN, NO!" Hiccup yelled in fear. Then and there, I knew what I had to do…

"STORMFLY, _FETCH_!"

**Zenna's POV**

'_I guess this is it…Oh gods, Mom, Dad…I'll never see them again…And…I'll never get to see my little sibling…And…Holy Shields…Eret…I'll never get to apologize to him…I'll never get a chance…_'

Those were all I could think of as I fell. Everything seemed to go in slow motion, which is pretty common when you're about to die a painful death. The world slows down, your whole life flashes before your eyes in mere seconds and then…it all just suddenly…stops. I decided to close my eye, not wanting to see the icy battlefield when I die…

But suddenly, I heard a very familiar voice yell…

"STORMFLY, _FETCH_!"

Then I felt myself land on something that felt very much alive and that wasn't the cold, hard ground. I felt a full-on hyperventilating attack coming on. My breathing accelerated and my whole body started shaking. But can you blame me? I was in complete shock at having survived!

"Zen? Zen? Zen, are you okay? _Zenna!_" the same voice spoke up again, sounding scared. I willed myself to stop hyperventilating and then, once I had calmed down, made myself open my eye.

Once again, the world just seemed to stop.

For my savior…was none other than Eret…

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly. I could only bob my head up and down. That's when I realized that Astrid was behind him…and that he was riding Stormfly! Did that mean…he was one of us now?

Stryka suddenly appeared beside us and gave me a concerned croon. My mind was just so messed up right now that I didn't know what to do…

"Zen! Yeah baby!" I then saw Hiccup cheer, seeing me safe and sound, as he and Toothless destroyed a few traps with his Dad and Skullcrusher. "Take them down!" some of Drago's men prepared to fire at them with their crossbows when Gobber and Grump flew in. "Heads up!" Gobber hollered as Grump's heavy bludgeon of a tail knocked the men out cold!

That's when I remembered the battle I had to get back to.

"Come on, girl! We've got a madman to defeat!" I told Stryka, scrambling out of Eret's arms and jumped back onto the sadlle. But just as I was about to leave, I risked a glance at Eret. He was looking at me with a mixture of remorse, regret and hopefulness clearly written on his face and in his eyes that it made my heart flutter nervously.

'…_he still loves you…as much as __**you **__still love him…_'

Elias' words came back to me in a rush. I know that right now wasn't a good time for us to talk…but I had to at least do _something_. So, taking my chances, I got Stryka to hover closer over to Stormfly. Close enough…so I could give Eret a quick kiss on the cheek. Once I did that, I looked at Eret again. And his expression nearly made me smile. He just looked so shocked, with his dreamy amber brown eyes wide as plates.

"…_Thank you_." I said, before urging Stryka upwards. Eret and I will talk for real later. Right now, we had to stop Drago once and for all!

**Eret's POV**

Okay, I've gone through tons of crazy things in my life. But this...was a whole different kind of crazy.

As Zenna flew away on her Night Fury, I slowly put my hand to my cheek…where she had kissed me. I mean, I expected that she would still be furious with me and that when she and I made eye contact, she'd just fly away without so much as a thank you. But she didn't. She kissed me…on the cheek, yes, but still! And…and she actually thanked me for saving her.

Did that mean…she was willing to forgive me…?

I was so lost in thought that it took a hard punch in the arm from Astrid to get me to refocus! I gave her a slight glare as I rubbed the spot where she punched me and I saw that she had that knowing smile on her face. That's when Hiccup and Toothless pulled over next to us. Pulling up his helmet's visor, Hiccup looked at me. I felt my stomach twist into knots.

He had seen me save Zenna, his _sister_, and he also knew that I had hurt her…What was he going to say?

But then I saw the forgiveness in his green eyes and he smiled as he said, "Welcome aboard, _Dragon Rider!_" as if he was welcoming me into the team. Maybe I already _was _a Dragon Rider now…

"Thanks! I think!" I said nervously, still trying to figure out on how to work the saddle…while also trying to stay calm as we flew about hundreds of feet above the ground!

"Where have you and Zenna been?" Astrid asked him, a little miffed. "Oh, you know. Catching up with Mom." Hiccup told her nonchalantly.

Wait, Mom?

That's when Astrid and I looked up in time to see the Alpha come out of the Nest, with the Dragon Rider. My brain put all the pieces together…the Dragon Rider, who had been saving all the dragons from my traps, was Hiccup's _mother_!

"_That's _your _mother_?!" Astrid asked in shock. "Well, now you know where I get my dramatic flair!" Hiccup grinned, pulling down his helmet's visor and took off. "Okay…now that was unexpected…" I mumbled, shaking my head. "Focus, Eret! We need to help the dragons!" Astrid reminded me. "I know! I know!" I sighed, urging Stormfly to destroy a few more traps.

**Zenna's POV**

Well, after my little reunion with Eret, Stryka and I flew off to assist Hiccup and Toothless.

"Look at her go! Go, Mom!" Hiccup cheered as Auntie Valka expertly commanded the dragons atop of Cloudjumper. The Sanctuary dragons followed battle commands given by both Valka and the Alpha, who blasted all the traps to ice-covered smithereens with his ice blasts! "My best friend's mother." I said, rolling my eye playfully.

"The Alpha! Now, we have a fight!"

My blood ran cold as I heard Drago's gravelly voice for the first time somewhere down below in the battlefield. Stryka sensed my worry and we decided to fly closer to Cloudjumper to protect him and Auntie Valka.

Suddenly I saw a Zippleback turn into a rolling wheel of fire by gassing first and then the gas head connected with the spark head to spark the gas! I found myself hoping that the Twins wouldn't see this (_but I'm pretty sure they already have_) and get Barf and Belch to try it. But then, it rolled right into a trap!

"Hiccup, Zippleback!" I alerted him. My brother spotted the dragon in distress. "Come on, Toothless! Show them what you've got, bud!" he told Toothless. Immediately Toothless did a power dive and plasma blasted the trap open! "Whoo-hoo-hoo! ATTABOY!" Hiccup whooped as the Zippleback flew free. Stryka roared encouragingly to her mate while I cheered, "Yaahoo! Go, Hiccup! Go, Toothless!"

Suddenly a net came out of nowhere and caught Cloudjumper and Auntie Valka! Quickly Stryka and I rushed to help them. Then I saw Auntie Valka battling…_Drago._

My heart started to beat faster as I saw the large, hulking man covered in a dragon skin cloak and wielding a menacing bull hook. And, judging by his skin color, he must have been of Slavic descent. Good thing I've also studied about other ethnic groups in my travels, as well as some handy army fighting techniques in Greece.

"I've waited a long time for this." Drago snarled as he and Auntie Valka exchanged blows. "You cannot take our dragons! They are controlled by the Alpha!" Valka shouted in defiance. "She's right!" I shouted, jumping off of Stryka and readying my battle sticks.

Drago smiled wickedly at both of us. "Then it's a good thing I brought a challenger." He said. Then, waving his bull hook in the air, he began to scream maniacally.

I watched with increasing horror as, down at the shores, _another _Bewilderbeast emerged from the water, upturning the ships anchored there! And this Bewilderbeast…was the complete opposite of the majestic Alpha. It was covered in scars, most likely from Drago's torture and abuse, and had chains attached to its tusks. And it was completely devoid of any emotion. Just one look at its eyes told me that Drago's Bewilderbeast was nothing more than a mindless, destructive slave.

"Oh, Holy Shields…" I murmured in horror. I heard Hiccup exclaim, "Another one?" in shock as he and the others were up in the air. "That is a Class Ten! _Class Ten_!" Fishlegs reported frantically, having taken a good look.

A Class Ten Leviathan dragon equals…not good.

"No…" Valka muttered in horror. "Come on! Take down the Alpha!" Drago commanded his Bewilderbeast. "No!" Valka and I both yelled charging towards him. "We will never let you enslave the dragons of this Sanctuary! Never!" I shouted in defiance as I swung Ember hard at Drago's face. But then Drago blocked my attack and hooked me by the front of my coat with his bull hook and flung me back! Recovering from that tumble, I saw Drago trip Valka up and then planted one foot on her chest! "Auntie Valka!" I screamed in alarm when Drago removed her mask and prepared to finsh her off.

Then, suddenly Stoick came to the rescue and shoved Drago out of the way!

"Yes…!" I breathed out in relief.

"Thank you." Valka thanked her husband as they held hands. "For you my dear, anything." Stoick said as he and Drago faced off. In the background, the two Bewilderbeasts were already battling. "Val, you think you can stop them?" Stoick asked his wife. "I'll do my best! Come on, Cloudjumper!" Valka replied, getting on her Stormcutter and flying off. "Zenna, you and Stryka help the Riders! Go!" Stoick turned to me. "You got it, Chief!" I saluted, getting back on Stryka. As we flew, I heard Drago and Stoick exchange words.

"You?! I watched you burn!" Drago yelled as he and Stoick grappled down below. "It takes more than a little fire to kill me!" Stoick grunted in defiance as they fought. Suddenly Drago scored a hit, sending Stoick to the ground! "Stoick!" Good thing Gobber flew by and handed him a bludgeon.

Then I saw Valka, on Cloudjumper, waving her staff to the Dark Bewilderbeast in attempts to stop it from attacking. But it was a futile effort.

'_Come on, Alpha! Take down the evil Bewilderbeast! You can do it!_' I thought hopefully as Stryka and I flew with Hiccup and Toothless.

But my hopes were dashed when that Dark Bewilderbeast knocked the Alpha down and pierced his underside with its chained tusks!

"No!" Valka said in horror. "No." Astrid whimpered in shock. "Alpha down…Alpha down…" I murmured, my dragon-loving heart breaking. As the Dark Bewilderbeast let out a victory roar, all dragons were put under its control.

Then I heard Drago's victorious yell.

"We've won! Now, _finish her_!"

I looked down and spotted Drago, pointing his bull hook up in the air.

At Auntie Valka.

**Read and review. (Stryka says "**_**Plwease?**_**" with puppy dog look on her face)**


	13. No

**I am sorry if this Chapter will break you. Trust me, it broke me while I was **_**writing **_**this :'"(**

**Note: I do NOT own anything.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: No…<strong>

"Look out, Auntie Valka!" I screamed as Cloudjumper narrowly avoided getting turned into a frozen Stormcutter by the Dark Bewilderbeast's ice blast! But then his tail got frozen and Valka was thrown off of his back! Hiccup and I looked at each other and nodded. We needed to end this, _now_.

As we flew to where Drago was, I managed to catch a glimpse of Stoick saving Valka and the two of them running to avoid being attacked. I silently murmured a prayer to the gods that they'll both be safe. The situation was getting dire. More and more dragons were now being pulled into the Dark Bewilderbeast's control, including Skullcrusher, Stormcutter and Grump. Toothless and Stryka were okay though, I guess Drago hadn't thought of getting his dragon to control them…

"STOP!"

At our yells, Drago looked up to see us coming in for a landing. "Stop!" Hiccup repeated, removing his helmet. "This madness ends now!" I said, standing firmly by his side. Drago at once began to laugh. He'd seen me, but not Hiccup. I guess we weren't really the opponents he had expected to meet.

"These are the two great Dragon Masters? The son of Stoick the Vast and the Dragon Doctor of Berk?" Drago chuckled darkly at us before adding snidely, "What shame he and his tribe must feel." To make us annoyed. Good thing Hiccup and I kept our cool. But, honestly, I wanted to spear that madman with Ember for payment of what he had done to Eret.

"All of this loss and for what? To become unstoppable? To rule the world?" Hiccup asked him, trying to reason with him. I knew now that Drago Bludvist was anything but reasonable but my loyalty to Hiccup persuaded me to try and be a diplomat as well. "Drago, this battle has been nothing but been in vain. The blood of men, _your men_, and dragons, either from _your _army or from the Sanctuary, will continue to be spilled if you don't call this crazy war off." I told him. "Dragons, they are kind, amazing creatures that can bring people together." Hiccup added.

Drago seemed to listen…but then…

"Or tear them apart." He growled and, then, unhooked his prosthetic left arm! Hiccup and I could only gape at the stump of what probably used to be Drago's left arm in shock. How long had Drago been…_armless_?

"Well, Dragon _Doctor_, where were you when I needed your care?" Drago maliciously sneered at me, making my blood run cold with fear. Hiccup glared at Drago and stepped out in front of me, protecting me from this psychopath.

"You see, I know what it is to live in fear. To see my village burnt, my family taken. But even as a boy left with nothing I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons, and liberate the people of this world." Drago told us as he casually walked in a circle. Sometimes I saw him look at me hungrily…almost as if he wanted to snatch me away and do whatever he pleased with me. I made sure to keep one hand on one of my battle sticks just in case. No way was I going to let this son of a bitch lay one finger on me.

"Then why a dragon army?" Hiccup demanded, going into protective mode as well. "Well, you need dragons to conquer other dragons." Drago replied. "You think that just because your Bewilderbeast defeated the Alpha, both dragons and men will listen to your command?" I asked, my one violet eye flashing in anger. "Or maybe you need dragons to conquer _people_, to control those who follow you and get rid of those who don't." Hiccup said, his face set with determination.

"You use _fear _to control those who follow you…and to enslave those who don't wish to join you at first. And if they still refuse, you kill them in cold blood…Stoick was right…You _are _a madman, without conscience or mercy." I said coldly, fully hating Drago Bludvist now more than ever.

Drago just chuckled darkly, "Clever boy and girl."

But Hiccup was still determined to reason with Drago. I wanted to tell him that it was hopeless trying to be diplomatic with Drago, but I…I couldn't just leave Hiccup to face this alone so I held my tongue and stayed by his side.

"The world wants peace, and we have the answer back on Berk. Just let us show you-" he managed to say before Drago's face hardened. "No! Let _me _show _you two_!" he roared, before swinging his bull hook over his head while screaming like the madman he truly was. Hiccup and I backed away from him along with Toothless and Stryka, realizing that Drago was summoning his Dark Bewilderbeast. Once the Bewilderbeast arrived, Drago slammed his bull hook into the ground. The Bewilderbeast immediately bowed to him in submission. Another proof that Drago was an abusive and mad madman.

"No dragon can resist the Alpha's command. So he, who controls the Alpha, controls them all." Drago said in a low voice, pointing his bull hook at Toothless and Stryka.

That's when everything went bad.

Hiccup and I were alerted to Toothless and Stryka, who were now growling and whining uncomfortably. And they were constantly shaking their heads as if they were trying to shake something off. "Toothless? You okay, bud? What's going on?" Hiccup asked fearfully as our two Night Furies began to grind their heads against the ice, moaning in agony. "What are you doing to them?" I asked, whipping my head to face Drago.

"Witness true strength. The strength of will over others."

That's when I saw the Dark Bewilderbeast's pupils flickering as it hissed, maintaining eye contact on Toothless and Stryka. The realization of what was happening hit me like an ice-cold wall.

_Drago was commanding his Dark Bewilderbeast to take control over Toothless and Stryka…_

Drago then pointed his bull hook at our dragons saying, "In the face of it…you two are _nothing_." Before pointing it…at _us_.

I already thought that _that_ was scary. But when Toothless and Stryka turned to face us, I got a true look at real terror. Both Toothless and Stryka were now under the Dark Bewilderbeast's control. And Stryka, oh gods…her one emerald green eye was completely void of any emotion and her pupil had turned into a mere slit…

"Uh, what did he just tell you and Stryka?" Hiccup asked nervously, seeing Toothless' empty eyes. "Stryka, what's with the face…?" I squeaked, trying really hard to deny the fact along with my brother that our two best dragon friends in the whole world were now mindless slaves to Drago and his Dark Bewilderbeast.

Our two Night Furies began to advance towards us menacingly. And with nowhere to go but back, Hiccup and I found ourselves slowly being backed up into a wall of ice! My heart started hammering in my chest. This was sheer madness! Stryka, my dear draconian sister, was now trying to kill me!

"Toothless, what's the matter with you? What're you doing?" Hiccup frantically asked, hoping that his voice would snap Toothless out of the trance. "Stryka, this isn't funny! Knock it off!" I yelped, hoping against all hope that a miracle would happen and that my one-eyed dragoness would come back to me.

"Knock it off!" Hiccup echoed my last plea as our two Night Furies opened their mouths. I could hear the gas building up inside of them. Any minute now, their plasma blasts would blast out and hit me and Hiccup dead centers. "Please come back to us!" I pleaded, my voice shaking as we were forced further back.

"_Stop! Snap out of it!_" Hiccup and I both shouted, now both completely overcome with fear. But it was futile. Toothless and Stryka…they wouldn't listen to either of us. It was the end for me and Hiccup…

"Toothless! No! Toothless! Don't!" "Stryka! No! Stryka! Please, no!" Hiccup and I weren't even sure if we should keep on begging or anything. It was all too frightening. Rational thinking, logic…basically, anything that made sense was going out the window as our two Night Furies prepared to fire!

That's when I heard Stoick yelling his son's name.

"Hiccup!"

Odin, no! No! Stoick was gonna try rescuing us!

"STOP!" Hiccup yelled at the top of his lungs as Toothless and Stryka readied their plasma blasts.

"SON!" Stoick yelled as I saw him running towards us. "STOICK, DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" I shrieked in alarm as Hiccup and I spotted him. "DAD!" Hiccup yelled, holding one arm out to his side to try and stop his father from taking another step closer.

That's when the plasma shot out of Toothless and Stryka's mouths.

"_**NO!**_" Hiccup and I both screamed as Stoick rammed into us, pushing us out of the blast zone!

The silence that followed was almost deafening…

Reeling from the shock of the blast we heard, Hiccup and I panted heavily before glancing at our two Night Furies. Still under the Dark Bewilderbeast's controlling trance, Toothless and Stryka were panting, their chests heaving from the huge amount of firepower they both let out. I realized that Hiccup had pretty much shielded me with his body and was hovering protectively over me. But I had little time to dwell on my brother's protective instincts.

For the next thing we both saw…made both of our hearts stop.

Stoick, covered in shards of ice, lying on the ground…completely still.

"No…" Hiccup breathed out as we both scrambled to our feet and rushed over to his Dad. "Dad!" Hiccup cried out as we struggled to clear the ice off of his father. I couldn't speak. Shock had made me mute. But my doctor training kicked in and I started to perform CPR on Stoick. Mentally counting the rhythm of compressions, I pumped and pumped and pumped and pumped my Chief's chest, praying to all the gods and goddesses in Valhalla as well as Eli's spirit that I could restart his heart and get him to breathe…

_**Save his life…like any doctor should do…**_

'_Come on, Stoick! Don't die on us, Chief!_' I thought desperately as I kept on pumping even as Auntie Valka arrived. "Stoick…" she gasped in horror. "Dad…no, you…" Hiccup said, his voice trembling greatly as I continued doing CPR. But my arms soon tired and I couldn't pump anymore. I only had enough energy left in me to shakily take out my stethoscope so I could press it to Stoick's chest, like Auntie Valka was doing right now, and listen for a heartbeat…

But there wasn't a heartbeat…

My own heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second when I realized that it was too late. Not even my most advanced healing methods could do anything now. As I doctor, I could try to stop death…but I cannot give back life to the ones who had already died. I looked at Hiccup, along with Valka, and shook my head.

Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk…the man I now had the permission to call '_Uncle_'…was dead.

Hiccup...he…I just couldn't…I just…couldn't bear to see his distraught face. "_No…_" he choked out. "I-I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" I whispered, tears slipping out of my eye. "No, no, no…" Hiccup sobbed out, burying his face into his father's cold, lifeless hand as Astrid went to comfort him along with his Mom. My heart cried out for him as I watched my best friend, my brother, cry into his father's hand. That's when I heard the shuffling of dragon feet and turned.

Toothless and Stryka had snapped out of their trance…and they were walking over to us.

I let out an involuntary yelp as Stryka neared me and backed away as she came closer to me with her mate. "_Zewnwa…?_" Stryka warbled to me, confused, staring at me with her one green eye. I didn't know what I was thinking…Was I…actually afraid of my own dragon now?

"J-just…leave us alone for a while, girl…Please…just leave us alone…" I said fearfully, looking away. Holy Shields, what was I doing?! I was pushing Stryka away! All because of what Drago and his Dark Bewilderbeast had told her to do!

Stryka then crooned and approached Stoick's body along with Toothless. They had both realized what they had done. And they were so distraught as they gently nudged their snouts into his hand. But then Hiccup harshly pushed them away. "No! Get away from him!" he shouted, grief and rage evident in both his face and tone.

Poor Toothless and Stryka…they both looked like innocent pups that had been kicked and left out in the rain…

"Go on, get out of here! Go away!" Hiccup yelled, tears streaming down his face. Whimpering, our two Night Furies left. I wanted to go chase after them, tell them that Hiccup didn't mean it…But I just didn't know what to do…

Hiccup then fell to his knees, crying silently. "It's not their fault…You know that…" Valka told him softly as the Dark Bewilderbeast unleashed its hypnotic spell once again, taking control of all of the dragons. I heard my friends call out to their dragons and turned around. Stormfly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch…they were all going away…

"_Good dragons under the control of bad people…do bad things…_" Valka said sadly as we watched all the dragons leave.

That's when the truth dawned on me.

Toothless and Stryka weren't the ones responsible for Stoick's death.

It was _Drago_. He was the true murderer!

I immediately switched my battle sticks' flame spears on, slapped the cuff to turn them into my Fire Staff, Ember, and turned around to go and find that madman.

'_He will pay…He will pay for this! Of that I will make sure!_' I thought, furious as I ran until I spotted him. There he was, looming proud and victorious over this madness he had caused. Toothless, who was now under the control of the Alpha once again along with Stryka, was trying to fly with his locked tail fin but was failing. Until Drago pushed him down with his bull hook and mounted him.

"Come on! Gather the men and meet me at Berk!" he commanded. Oh no way was I going to let him slip away. Not after everything he had done!

Just as he was about to force Toothless up, I charged with a furious battle cry and tackled him! He was stunned to see me again, to say the least but I didn't care. He had murdered Eret's father, he had murdered Hiccup's father…and I was going to make him pay for what he did to them!

"BASTARD!" I screamed at him, landing a good hit on his jaw. But Drago wanted to fight and used his bull hook as his weapon. I let out an onslaught of strikes and jabs, determined to land a hit on him and cause him as much pain as I could so that he would know the pain he had inflicted upon the two men who mattered the most to me in my life.

"You monster! _You murderer! __**YOU! MURDERER!**_" I yelled at him, swinging Ember at his face and just barely giving him a good burn on his chin.

"ENOUGH!" Drago roared, suddenly knocking Ember out of my hands. I was about to go into hand-to-hand combat mode when he grabbed my throat! I let out an enraged growl that turned into a gasp for air as he lifted me up off the ground! "You are pathetic, Dragon Doctor. No one who challenges me…lives to tell the tale." He growled as he tightened his grip on my throat. I frantically clawed at his fingers as I desperately tried to breathe. But I was beginning to feel lightheaded. Oh Thor, if his grip tightened even more he will crush my neck…

"No! No! No! NO, DRAGO! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

I know that voice…It sounded like…

"LEAVE! ZENNA! ALONE!"

_Eret_…

That's when Drago flung me backward. I let out a small scream in pain as I collided with someone and just laid there, gasping for much-needed air and rubbing my sore neck. When I finally recovered from what could have been a near-death thing, I sat up only to see Drago riding on Toothless to join his Bewilderbeast in the siege to Berk…Stryka following right behind them!

"Stryka! Stryka! STRYKA!" I cried out hoarsely and tried to go after my best dragon friend but a pair of strong, muscular arms grabbed me and held me back. "No! No! No! No!" I screamed, thrashing against the arms. "Zenna, no! Please, no!" That's when I realized that Eret was the one holding me. I spun around to see him looking at me with worry. "But…but…Stryka…and…" I managed to say before I heard Hiccup cry out, "Toothless!"

I looked past Eret to see Hiccup trying to get to his Night Fury as well only to be held back by Valka. "No, don't…" she told him, her eyes tearing up.

Seeing that there was no use, Hiccup fell back on the ground and just sobbed as Astrid gently cradled him in her arms. Hiccup, my best human friend and brother not by blood but by bond, had been completely broken.

That did it. Losing Stoick, then Stryka and Toothless and, finally, seeing Hiccup broken was too much for me. I completely lost it and started sobbing like a baby.

Stoick was gone…Stryka and Toothless had been taken away…And Drago was going to invade Berk…

_Everything had fallen apart…_

"No…no…no…" I blubbered, sobbing into Eret's chest. I wasn't really sure on what our relationship status was now, but I was just relieved to have him there. As of now, he was my lifeline to what was left of my sanity…and I didn't want to lose anyone else…

Eret just gently wrapped his strong arms around me as I cried and didn't say anything. I gratefully stayed in his arms until I had cried myself out. When I pulled away from him, I saw Hiccup, Gobber, Valka, Astrid and the rest of my friends struggling to lift Stoick's body to prepare it for a funeral.

When Eret and I managed to catch up, Hiccup and I locked eyes at one point as we trudged through the icy terrain to salvage a ship we could use for the traditional Viking funeral.

And just like that…my already shattered heart shattered once more as I saw the intense sorrow and grief in Hiccup's emerald green eyes.

And I couldn't help but feel…that it was all MY fault.

I had failed to save Stoick's life…

I failed in my duty as a doctor…

And…I had failed Hiccup…

…_I had failed my brother_…

* * *

><p><strong>It's finally Christmas Break for me so I might have more time to update more. Okay, can't take it anymore…I'm just gonna go to a corner and try not to cry over this now…<strong>


	14. Stoick's Ship

**Hello everyone ;) Another update to HTTYD2 for you all.**

**Thank you so much for all the support, favorites, follows and reviews. The story is almost done but please don't stop supporting it.**

**And for the Guest who gave me a great review and suggestion on my story…the part where Zenna is captured by Drago…sorry to say it, but I don't plan to do that. My reason is that I want to stay as close to the movie's original plot as possible. Plus, the chapter after this…it's going to be one heck of an emotional chapter between our new alpha couple (You guys already know who I'm talking about)**

**In the meantime, read, review and stay awesome ;)**

**Note: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING**

**Chapter 14: Stoick's Ship**

As bland the commodities were, we were all determined to give Stoick a proper Viking funeral. We found a boat that was wrecked, but still salvageable, and placed Stoick's body on an elevated platform. I watched as Valka covered her dear husband's body with a white sheet before Hiccup, with tears still running down his face, placed his Dad's helmet on top. Once the pyre was set, the boys pushed it out to sea while Gobber readied our bows. He gave Hiccup a sympathetic pat as he handed him his bow while he gave me a look that clearly said that he needed me to be right next to Hiccup, so I can provide him some small measure of comfort.

I stood beside Hiccup, clutching my bow and arrow, as Gobber delivered the eulogy.

"May the Valkyries welcome you, and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we may hear it rise from the depths of Valhalla…and know that you have taken your rightful place at the table of kings. For a great man has fallen. A warrior…A chieftain…A father…A friend…"

I felt tears well up in my eye, but I tried hard not to let them come out. But a single tear slipped down my face as Hiccup and I set our arrows on fire on some glowing coals and aimed at the ship. As I prepared to fire, I looked up at the skies and made a silent wish to my brother.

'_Give Uncle Stoick a warm welcome up there, will you, Eli?_' I thought as Hiccup and I let our arrows loose together. No sooner had we done that, I found myself holding Hiccup's hand. And he was gripping onto mine like a lifeline. I was suddenly reminded of Elias' funeral. Hiccup had held my hand during my brother's funeral…Now _I _was the one holding Hiccup's hand at his father's funeral.

I glanced back at Valka, Astrid and the others as they fired arrows at Stoick's ship shortly after my and Hiccup's arrows hit their mark. When all the arrows had been fired, we all watched the pyre burn up in the distance in silence. After a few minutes, Hiccup let go of my hand and took a step forward and gazed at his father's ship in the distance.

"I'm sorry, Dad…" he apologized quietly. I found myself sighing at his apology. I guess he was thinking that it was better to apologize to his Dad late than to never apologize to him for all his screw ups…I listened as my brother continued speaking.

"I'm not the Chief that you wanted me to be, and I'm not the peacekeeper I thought was. I…don't…know…" Hiccup managed to say before heaving a sad sigh, unable to say anything else. I wanted to go and say something to make him feel better, but Auntie Valka beat me to it. She went to Hiccup and gently ran a hand through his auburn hair.

"You came early into this world. You were such a wee thing, so frail, so fragile…I feared you wouldn't make it. But your father…he never doubted." Valka told him as she faced him and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "He always said you'd become the strongest of them all. And he was right." She said, her gaze soft and reassuring.

That's when I remembered the time I had gotten mad at Stoick for disowning Hiccup. I called him a horrible father but I had no idea that…that, all along, Stoick had faith in Hiccup. I had been so wrong about Stoick at that time. I was lucky enough to make amends with him, but I was still overcome with guilt…for not being able to save him…

Valka continued and gently placed her hand on Hiccup's chest. "You have the heart of a Chief, and the soul of a Dragon. Only you can bring our worlds together. _That _is who you are, son." She said firmly.

Okay, now you all are probably wondering if I felt left out when Auntie Valka said that. I _am_ also one of the reasons why Berk was now at peace with the dragons _and_ Hiccup's surrogate sister, after all! But like I've said before…Hiccup is the _true _hero of the story. While I've always been there for him, I always knew that Hiccup was the one who always came up with a plan, always leading me and everyone else on the right path. In the end, it was always him. Hiccup was the only one who could do this: stop Drago from taking the dragons of Berk and lead our people into an era of peace with the dragons.

Hiccup…my best human friend and brother…will forever be the true hero.

I watched as Hiccup looked off into the distance. I couldn't see his face, but I knew that he was still in an emotional turmoil even as he spoke.

"I…ah…I was so afraid of becoming my Dad…Mostly because I thought I never could. How do you become someone that great, that brave, that selfless?" he said haltingly. I managed a small smile. '_You try, Hiccup…Try and try until you succeed…_' I thought. And, as if he had heard my thoughts, Hiccup said, "I guess you can only try…"

And when he turned around to face us, Hiccup now had a face set in determination. "A Chief protects his own. We're going back." He told us. As good as the idea of returning to Berk to save it was, we still had a slight dilemma…

"Uh, with what?" Tuffnut piped up. "He took all the dragons." Ruffnut pointed out. Hiccup smiled a bit. "Not all of them." He replied. My eye lit up as I realized what he meant. "The baby Scuttleclaws…They weren't taken by the Alpha." I spoke up. "Because they listen to no one! All of you, follow me into the Sanctuary and hurry!" Valka instructed us. Following her, Astrid, Gobber, Eret, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the Twins ran to the Sanctuary while Hiccup and I decided to stay behind. Nobody objected. They knew that the two of us needed time to talk.

I took a deep breath and sat down along with Hiccup, the two of us watching Stoick's pyre burn into ashes. I glanced at Hiccup, whose face had become subdued and withdrawn. Even if he had tried to show his confidence, I knew that he was still in deep pain…Now I really needed to say something to him…and hope that it would make him feel better.

"I-I…I guess I should apologize to you now…_Sorry_…" I said quietly. Hiccup looked at me, confused. "Zen, what're you saying sorry for? You didn't do anything…" he managed to say before I just decided to say it. "I _failed_, Hicc! I failed to be the great doctor I promised I would be! You know what doctors do! They save lives! And I failed this time! And the worst part of that…was that the one life I had failed to save was…was that of your father's, Hiccup…I failed _you_…That was the one thing I was most afraid of…failing you…Hiccup, I am so, so, so…_so sorry_…" I blurted out, tears slipping down my face. Hiccup stared at me, stunned, for a few seconds. Finally he gently brushed my tears away and said softly, "Zen, you didn't fail me. You didn't fail _anyone_. If anyone has failed…it's me. If I had just listened to my Dad and hadn't gone off to find Drago, this whole thing wouldn't have happened…_It's my fault my father is gone…It's all my fault…_"

I saw the tears filling Hiccup's eyes and firmly shook my head.

"It's not your fault, Hicc. Not Toothless', not Stryka's and, most certainly, _not _yours. Drago Bludvist…is the one at fault. He's the one who murdered Stoick. You know that Hiccup. I know and your Mom knows…we _all _know that this is Drago's fault. And you have to realize that it's not your fault at all…Please, Hiccup. You need to stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong. It's…It's time for you to become the Chief we all know that you can be." I told him. Hiccup looked at me with a look of pure grief on his face. "Come here…" I said softly, opening my arms so he could go into my embrace. Hiccup wrapped his arms around me tightly and buried his face into my right shoulder as he cried, his tears soaking the right shoulder pad of my armor.

"I'm scared, Zen…I'm scared…What if I can't be the Chief Dad wanted me to be? I'm all alone…Why did he have to leave me? Why…?" Hiccup sobbed, his whole body shaking. "He died to protect you, Hiccup…And you're not alone…Your Mom's here with you now…And all of us as well…You're not alone, Hicc. We're here…we're right here for you…" I said soothingly, gently rubbing circles on his back. We stayed there for a while until Hiccup stopped crying and we pulled away from each other.

That's when I remembered something important…

"The day I came home, I…had a chat with your Dad…" I began as I recounted to Hiccup what had happened on that very day…

(_Flashback starts_)

'_Stryka and I had just returned from the Cove with Hiccup and Toothless that evening. No sooner had we landed in front of the Haddock house, we heard Stoick hollering for Hiccup. _"Oh Thor, give me a break…" _Hiccup groaned as his Dad came out with a big smile on his face. _"Ah, son, there you are! Come on, just one more lesson in Chiefing before we turn in for the night." _Stoick called out. Toothless promptly yawned and went inside the house to sleep while Hiccup turned to me with a desperate look on his face._

_I was about to laugh and wish him good luck with the lesson, but then I saw Stoick look at me. He thoughtfully put a hand to his chin and stroked his beard before saying, _"On second thought, Hiccup, you go on and have a good sleep. Zenna and I need to have a talk in the Great Hall."

_Hiccup and I looked at Stoick first before at each other in confusion. Finally Hiccup shrugged and went inside his house while Stoick stepped out and went over to me. Honestly I felt a little nervous. First day back home and was I already in trouble or something?_

"Shall we, Dr. Fiersome?" _Stoick smiled jokingly at me. I managed a slight nod and we headed off to the Great Hall. Once we were inside, Stoick led me to the center table. I began to fidget as Stoick stood across the table and looked at me with serious eyes. I was just about to ask him why we needed to talk when he said, _"Zenna, I need to talk to you about Hiccup."

_I stood straight at those words and nodded, a little surprised. _"I'm sure that Hiccup's told you already on why he doesn't want to become Chief." _Stoick began. _"Uh…yeah…he said that he and Toothless still want to go out into the world and explore…and…there's also the pressure of starting a family…" _I said awkwardly. Stoick laughed a hearty laugh at my last sentence. _"Well, can you blame me? I'd love to have some grandbabies to look after while he's busy with Astrid. If you know what I mean." _He chuckled and winked. _"Okay, Chief. I get it. Spare me the mental images, please." _I laughed, pretending to look horrified. Then Stoick's face turned gentle as he sighed. _"What you said about Hiccup still wanting to explore…that is true, but…there's one other reason. He's never told me about it…but, as his father, I didn't need to ask…because I know…" _he said quietly._

_My ears perked up and I tilted my head curiously to the side. _"Know about what, Sir?" _I asked. Stoick locked eyes with me and sighed again. _"He's afraid of becoming me, Zenna. Afraid that he will never measure up to me as Chief." _He told me. I was slightly surprised, but I managed to shrug. _"Well I have to admit, Sir, you've set the bar _pretty _high. So, it's pretty understandable that Hiccup would shy away from accepting the position given the high standards." _I pointed out. Stoick nodded and then walked over to me saying, _"I suppose you're right, Zen. And since you're my son's closest friend, next to Toothless of course, I need you to do something of utmost importance for me…"

_Placing his hands on my shoulders, Stoick looked into my eye with an imploring look. _

"If anything ever happens to me, Zenna…I want you to tell Hiccup that if he ever doubts himself when he becomes Chief…he need not doubt…for he has already proven to me that he is a greater Viking than I am. He has surpassed all my expectations and more. And I know, just _know_…that Hiccup will be the greatest Chief Berk has ever known…Promise me, Zenna, that you will tell him that when the right time comes…"

_I was silent for a moment to let Stoick's words sink in. Then I nodded and stood straight and tall with confidence. _"You can count on me, Chief." _I replied. Stoick smiled and ruffled my hair. _"That's my girl! And, if it's not too much trouble for you, I want you to be the first person to officially pledge loyalty to my son when he becomes Chief." _He laughed. I laughed as well. _"I better start working on my speech then!" _I said as our talk ended and we left the Great Hall…_

(_Flashback ends_)

When I stopped talking, I anxiously looked at Hiccup for his reaction. He looked shocked, amazed and confused all at the same time. I smiled a bit and placed my hand on his shoulder. "See, Hicc? Even your Dad knew that you're more than cut out for Chiefdom. He believed in you…as much as I do…" I said softly before taking a deep breath. I knelt down in front of Hiccup and took another deep breath to calm my nerves.

Now was the time for me to do it. Swear my allegiance to my beloved brother…and Chief.

"You are my best human friend, my brother, my Chief and…I will follow you faithfully until the end of my days, Hiccup. I swear on my older brother's, Elias', name, on your father's name and all the gods and goddesses of Valhalla that I will forever remain loyal to you. Even when Ragnarok itself comes and goes, I will always stay by your side and always have your back no matter what…" I solemnly promised to him, before standing up and extending my hand.

"…_Okay?_" I asked him. Hiccup stared at me for a few seconds before a small smile made its way across his face. He took my outstretched hand in his, before pulling me into a tight embrace. "…_Okay…_" he whispered. I smiled and gently kissed his forehead. And, just like that, I fulfilled my promise to Stoick and to myself. Hiccup was my Chief now and I will follow him to the very end.

As we headed back to join the others, Hiccup glanced at me. "Zenna…there's something I need you to do." He told me, his face serious. I grinned. "For you, my Chief, _anything_." I said readily.

But what Hiccup wanted me to do…wasn't for him…

It was for me…and Eret…

**Next chapter…prepare your tissues. Especially you, forestsashow!**

**-GuardianDragon98**


	15. I Give Eret A Second Chance

**Christmas Break is almost over…So sad…**

**So, before school restarts, here's another update for HTTYD2.**

**Warning: This chapter may require tissues.**

**Note: I DO NOT OWN HTTYD2 AND ALL RIGHTS TO IT AND THE REST OF THE ENTIRE DRAGONS FRANCHISE BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.**

**Chapter 15: I Give Eret A Second Chance**

"I don't think I can do this…" I mumbled nervously as Hiccup and I headed into the Sanctuary. In fact, I was close to freaking out! Hiccup grabbed my arm when I was about to turn around and go the other way. "Zen, if you and Eret don't talk things out then neither of you will ever feel better." Hiccup pointed out. "I thought you didn't like him." I reminded him. "But after he saved you, I changed my mind. Zenna, I saw the way Eret looked at you. He loves you." Hiccup told me as we neared the icy interior of the Sanctuary. "I know he does. It's just that…" I managed to say before we arrived.

The others were already mounting some of the baby Scuttleclaws, struggling to actually. True to what Auntie Valka said, the babies definitely listened to no one.

Hiccup gently squeezed my shoulder, calming me down a little. "When I said that I'd do anything for you, Chief, I didn't exactly expect this…" I muttered under my breath. "Just talk to him, Zen. I'll let you two have some privacy and you two can talk as long as you need." Hiccup reassured me.

Finally I just took a deep breath and sought out Eret. I found him with a red-green baby Scuttleclaw, trying to get on its back but to no avail. I held back a laugh as he got bucked off and landed in a pile of snow! Then I laughed for real when he tried to chase after the dragon!

"Come on! Get back here!" Eret shouted as he chased the Scuttleclaw around and around the place until I stepped in to calm the rambunctious baby dragon down. "Hello there, little guy…" I cooed, the baby Scuttleclaw instantly calming down. Eret watched in awe as I gently told the Scuttleclaw to wait with its fellow Scuttleclaws. When I faced Eret, he suddenly turned all nervous. And even if I couldn't look at myself, I knew that I was nervous too.

"Zenna…I…" Eret mumbled uneasily before I managed to ask, "Can we talk...alone?" which got everyone's attention. Hiccup gave the others the signal to leave me and Eret in peace. "We'll leave you two alone." Hiccup told us. "But don't take too…" Astrid began to say before Hiccup shook his head, silently telling her that Eret and I could have all the time we needed to sort things out, and led her away.

That left me and Eret on our own.

It was a couple of minutes later before we both had enough courage to speak to each other.

"I'll admit…I…never really thought we'd see each other again this way…" I said carefully, trying to make eye contact with Eret but failing. Eret looked down at the ground apprehensively. "Neither did I…We've changed, haven't we? You and me…" he mumbled uncertainly. I shrugged. "Yeah, we have…Me and you…we've grown a lot over the past 12 years…" I said.

But then I couldn't take it anymore and decided to just get straight to the point.

"I know what happened to your father." I blurted out. Eret looked at me in shock, before he avoided my gaze. "Valka…Valka told me…" I admitted to him. "…Oh…" Eret mumbled softly. "Eret, I'm…I'm so sorry…I-I didn't know…" I apologized as I went over to him. But then Eret backed away slowly from me. "No, Zenna…If anyone should be sorry, it's me…" he said, looking scared.

My heart began to break all over again when I realized that Eret was…afraid of me.

"Eret, don't be scared. I know you made a mistake and…" I managed to say before Eret cut me off. "No! You're wrong! I didn't make one mistake! I made a lot of them! It was a mistake for me to become a Dragon Trapper! I should have died with my father! But instead I cowardly accepted Drago's offer all so I could stay alive! I'm nothing but a mistake, Zen!" Eret all but shouted at me.

Then Eret did something I never thought he would do. A quiet sob escaped from his lips and the tears began to flow as he sank to his knees. I was shocked once I realized what was happening.

Eret was…actually _crying_.

"I've made a lot of mistakes, Zenna…But the worst mistake I ever made…was leaving you…Zen, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" Eret sobbed. I went over to him and knelt beside him. "You didn't leave me…I was the one who left you…" I whispered. "But I never came to find you…" Eret replied, the tears still running down his face. "That's because you were Drago's slave. You couldn't have been able to come find me." I told him. Eret just looked away from me, still silently crying. "I'm nothing but a mistake, Zenna…I've lost my Mum…I've lost Da…Drago's basically stripped me of my pride, honor and dignity…_I've lost everything_…" he said in a broken voice.

For a minute there, I saw my strong and courageous Eret, Son of Eret be replaced with Hiccup when he was still 15…and considered a mistake. That's what Eret was feeling right now…He felt that he was a mistake and thought he'd be better off dead…

And that's not how I felt about him. Eret wasn't a mistake. Sure he was a Dragon Trapper, but he had changed. He had helped Astrid and the others escape from Drago and had ridden Stormfly like a true Dragon Rider!

And he had saved me…like he always had when we were young…

Then and there, I realized that…I still loved Eret…I still did…

"Eret…Eret, look at me…" I said softly, placing my hand on Eret's chest. He looked at me, tears still welling up in his eyes. "You didn't lose everything…" I said to him softly, my own eye welling up with tears.

The next words I said were the words that I hoped would heal us both from our heartache.

"_You still have me, remember?_" I whispered as I brushed the tears away from Eret's face. Eret looked at me, letting my words sink in, then finally smiled for real. We both stood up and tightly embraced each other. New tears, tears of joy and relief, both ran down our faces as we embraced. I sighed happily, relishing in the feeling of Eret's strong arms around me as he hugged me gently. And, in that moment, it was as if nothing bad had ever happened. No Drago…no Dark Bewilderbeast…nothing horrible had come between me and Eret…

We were finally…after all these years…together again.

"I missed you…" Eret whispered in my ear, his voice thick with tears. "I missed you too…I missed you so much…" I whispered back as he held me close.

When we pulled away from the hug, Eret gently took my chin in his hand. I smiled at him as we leaned closer to each other…

You wanna know something?

The second kiss is just as amazing as the first.

My whole body felt like it was floating up high on cloud nine as Eret and I kissed. His lips were so soft and warm, I felt like I could just melt. I snaked my arms around Eret's neck as I kissed him while he wrapped one arm around my waist and cradled my head with his other hand. We stayed there, engaged in passionate lip lock, for what seemed like forever until…someone rudely interrupted.

"Okay, you guys made up! Can we go now?!"

Snotlout's loud voice snapped me and Eret out of our beautiful love daze and we broke the kiss, slightly panting on account that we'd been kissing for a while. But as rude as the interruption was, we were both so happy. "Wow…" I breathed out, my cheeks flushed red. "Yeah…Wow…" Eret said breathlessly, flushed red as well. I giggled and gave Eret another kiss.

A real quick one because Snotlout was now practically whining, "Seriously, can we go already?!" while the others watched in amusement. Turns out they all came back in time to see me and Eret have our second kiss.

Eret just rolled his eyes at Snotlout as he took my hand in his and we rejoined the others. I took out one of my sticks and gave Snotlout a good, solid bonk on the head! "Way to ruin the moment, Snot." I told him while he clutched his head in pain.

"I take it that you two finally straightened things out?" Hiccup asked with a slight smile on his face. "Yep. We're finally back together again. Right, Eret?" I smiled up at Eret, who looked at Hiccup and managed a smile. "I suppose we are." He shrugged, blushing a bit. Hiccup extended his hand out to Eret. "You're one of us now, Eret, Son of Eret." He told him. Eret gratefully shook hands with my brother. "I pledge my loyalty to you, Chief Hiccup. As thanks for taking care of Zenna for me all these years…you can count on me." he promised.

I then noticed Ruffnut looking at Eret. Some words now needed to be said.

"And in case you're all wondering, Eret is officially my _boyfriend_." I announced to everyone and stepped in front of Eret to keep Ruffnut from making any advances on him. "So, Ruffnut, if you want him then you'll have to go through me." I said seriously. Ruffnut just laughed. "Relax, Zen, I'm over him. I've got two real Viking men here already." She purred while Snotlout and Fishlegs sighed longingly to her.

"Whoa, that was fast…" I remarked in surprise while the others chuckled.

But then Valka stepped forward. "Alright, the Scuttleclaws are ready. We've got a long journey ahead of us." She reminded us and we all got ready for the trip back to Berk.

"Remember, just hang on tight and you'll be fine. And don't let go, got it?" I gave Eret a few quick tips before I got on my own Scuttleclaw. Hiccup got on the Scuttleclaw next to me and looked at me. "You okay?" I asked him, still a little worried about him. "Yeah. You ready?" Hiccup nodded, looking a little bit better than before. I nodded, ready to go get Stryka and Toothless back, kick Drago's ass and save our home.

"Let's get our best dragon friends back." I said seriously and we headed out!

Time to stop Drago Bludvist once and for all!

**Sorry if this update seems a little suck-ish…but feel free to read and review whenever and whatever you want. Happy New Year, everybody!**

**-GuardianDragon98**


	16. We're Going Back

**School's almost here again so I did the best I could to finish this. Sorry if it's a bit short but I hope you guys still like it!**

**Note: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING**

**Chapter 16: We're Going Back**

**(Zenna's POV)**

One thing you should know about Baby Scuttleclaws.

_Don't __**EVER **__ride them_.

Not only are they extremely difficult to control, but their oversized heads proved to make their flight pattern wobbly and shaky. Struggling to ride my own Scuttleclaw bareback, I focused on the path through the ice crevice while listening to my friends' shouts as they struggled to ride their own Scuttleclaws.

"Fly straight!" Ruffnut hollered. '_They can't…_' I thought rolling my eye. "I don't want to die!" Fishlegs screamed followed by the crunch of snow. "We can't fly these things!" Tuffnut hollered to me and Hiccup as he pushed his helmet up to keep it from falling off his head. "Yeah, no kidding!" Fishlegs squeaked in terror.

Then I heard Eret hollering and prayed that he was doing okay. It was only until after everything was over did I learn from him that when Fishlegs and his Scuttleclaw had barreled into a snow bank, he got hit right in the face with the cold snow and spent most of the flight out of the ice cave dangling upside-down from his dragon's neck, which kind of freaked me out to be honest.

Hiccup and I were lucky enough to have better control over our Scuttleclaws, though, along with Astrid and Auntie Valka. "But won't that Bewilderbeast just take control of these guys, too?" Astrid asked us. "They're babies! They don't listen to anyone!" Hiccup and I replied. "Yeah, just like us!" Tuffnut said, referring to him and his sister.

Meanwhile I could hear Gobber loudly yelling as his Scuttleclaw bashed into snow several times. "This…is…very dangerous!" our two-limbed blacksmith friend hollered with every crash into the ice. "What happened to '_safety is overrated_', Gobber?" I asked jokingly as he got his dragon to fly next to mine and Hiccup's. "Some might suggest that this is poorly conceived!" he told me and Hiccup. And we readily replied with, "Well, it's a good thing that we never listen!"

As ice spires started jutting out from the bottom, Hiccup, Gobber and I had a semi-cut off conversation as we dodged the ice.

"So! What _is_…! Your plan?!" Gobber hollered to us. "Get Toothless and Stryka back and kick Drago's-" Hiccup managed to reply before an ice spire blocked him out. So I decided to finish his sentence for him. "Kick Drago's ass!" I proclaimed as me, Hiccup, Astrid and Auntie Valka avoided crashing into an ice wall.

"Heads up!" Gobber warned us as we approached the ice wall. "And that thing." Hiccup added as we narrowly flew through a crack to avoid smashing into the ice.

Gobber…wasn't so lucky. With a yelp, he smashed right into the wall with his Scuttleclaw and they spiraled down. Good thing Snotlout and the others were there to assist him. "I'm never riding one of these things again…" Gobber mumbled woozily as we finally made it out of the ice cave. "Neither am I!" I said in agreement as we all took off into the night headed straight for Berk.

**(Normal POV)**

Back on Berk, almost everyone was sleeping peacefully…

Then suddenly, the Viking Guardian statues that guarded the entrance into Berkian territory were smashed to bits, their burning braziers quickly getting extinguished. Drago and his Bewilderbeast then proceeded to launch their attack.

Their first order of business: Take all the dragons.

Gothi's Terrible Terrors were the first to get controlled by the Dark Bewilderbeast. Gothi could only watch in horror as her darling Terrors, under the Alpha's evil spell, flew out of the hut.

In Hoark's house, Hoark was lavishing his Gronckle with belly scratches. "Ah, that's a good boy!" Hoark laughed, his Gronckle crooning with happiness. But once the Alpha's control took over, Hoark could only scratch his head in confusion as his Gronckle suddenly went wall-eyed and flew away. "Watch the furniture! Where are you going?" Hoark wondered out loud as his Gronckle, after bumping into the tables and chairs, flew away as well.

"Come back here!" a female Viking also yelled as her dragon flew away as well.

At that point, every Viking on Berk was awake and rushing out of their homes and the Great Hall to see their dragons leaving…along with the most terrifying sight they've ever seen…

"Serpent!" "Serpentine!" Edgar and Henna cried out in alarm as they rushed out of the Great Hall with Spitelout only to watch their Hideous Zippleback fly off towards the mass of dragons surrounding a huge, muddy white behemoth of a dragon.

Then Spitelout spotted something that gave him a shock.

"Toothless and Stryka! They're over there!" he alerted the Fiersomes, who both looked up to see Stryka hovering alongside her mate, who was being ridden by a strange man with a metal arm!

"How is that possible?" Edgar muttered in shock. Henna gasped and put a hand to her belly. "Edgar…Hiccup…and Zenna…where are they?" she asked in terror.

"Your Chief is dead!" Drago then yelled to the Berkians, who all felt waves of horror and fear at those words. Edgar and Henna could only stand in stunned silence as the crowd began to worriedly murmur amongst themselves.

"Stoick?" "S'not possible…"

"No one can protect you now!" Drago roared. At the same time, Edgar saw the Dark Bewilderbeast prepare to fire and managed to warn everyone.

"**EVERYONE, RUUUNN!**"

Quickly taking his wife with him, Edgar led the people of Berk to safety as the Dark Bewilderbeast unleashed its ice blast, freezing the entire village of Berk…

**Read and Review. Those two things make me happy.**

**-GuardianDragon98**


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